Quote:
Hi Fr. Frank:
For all that to happen to you in just one trip you must have got God or the Devil really mad at you.
Were you Fishing on Sunday??? Or did you just get back from some mission trip to Africa???
FellowShip
|
It was back in early-mid '84, when I was the Dockmaster for Waterway Marina in Palm Beach Gardens. The kingfish were running offshore, and I had a commercial fishing license so I could sell my catch to the fish market. Jeff, (one of my employees) and I went out just before dark to catch some fish to make a few extra bucks.
We took lots of frozen sardines for bait, four Penn 4/0 rod combo's and we went out in his 17' Cruise Boats center console powered by a '71 Evinrude Triumph 55 hp (3 cyl electric shift model)
We went out Boynton inlet, and then south to Boca Raton off the outer reef, where the kings were running in 90'-140' over the outer reef. The wind was blowing 20-30 mph constant out of the east, so we would drift westerly over the reef, then run back outside and do it again. It wasn't quite nasty outside, but certainly less than completely comfortable, especially in a boat that flexed like a soggy potato chip.
The kingfish were so hungry, we couldn't even get a bait down 30' without a hit, and most of the time, a catch, too. No big smokers, but no little snakes, either. For fuel economy, we had changed the 15' aluminum prop for a 17' SS raker. We were in the process of moving back out for another drift when we spun the hub on the prop.
Jeff went to change the prop, to put the aluminum back on, but couldn't get it to budge, it was wedged tightly into the gearcase. I tried banging on it with the prop wrench and in the process dropped the wrench into 100 feet of water. So we decided to just drift in closer to shore, while waiting on the Coast Guard for help.
We radio'd CG Station Lake Worth, and they didn't believe we had a real emergency. They asked us, "Are your lives in immediate danger?". I said, "no, not until we drift into the breakers", whereupon I was sternly advised that it was a crime to make a false distress report, and told to get off the frequency. At that point, the CG stopped answering our hails.
Being 23 years old, and fairly stupid, we decided we still had bait, beer, and Pepsi so we'd keep on fishing.
We already had over 600 lbs of kingfish in the boat, completely covering the deck side to side and front to back. That was about 11:00 p.m. We continued to call the USCG, describing our position and our predicament. We really had no worries until we drifted in to the first break.
Oh Crap!! A 17' center console with the hull strength of a Pringles is a scary thing to ride through 4-6' seas with waves breaking up to 10' high, and we had no power. We tried to anchor outside of the break, but just dragged the anchor through the sandy bottom. It did keep the bow into the waves, however.
We probably lost more than half of our catch as wave after wave would break over the bow and run right down the deck and over the transom. At some point, the bilge inspection plate in the engine well was washed over the back, so we set the cooler over the hole and tied it in place using dock lines. A lot of water was going into the bilge, nontheless, and the pump while working, was a little 360 gph RuleMatic.
We began discussing at what point we would abandon the boat and begin swimming for shore, knowing I would be swimming with a 15 lb anchor attached to my leg in the form of a full leg-length plaster cast (broken kneecap in a MC accident).
We had 4 life preservers on board, three ski-vest types and one throw-able cushion. We used 100 lb mono leader to tie the flotation cushion to my leg at the knee to keep it afloat, and once we were well inside the outer, 3rd set of breakers, Jeff went over the side to swim to shore for help. I got out the Q-beam spotlight(remember those?) and began illuminating the apartments in the oceanfront condos to try to attract attention. And I kept drifting in.
Jeff flagged down a Delray Beach police officer who was called to investigate the lights shining into people's bedrooms from offshore. He looked out and saw me with the spotlight, and hearing Jeff's story, he called dispatch, who then called the USCG, who responded by sending a 41'.
Going through the 2nd, middle set of breakers, I thought I was going to have to swim. The anchor got so loose at one point, the boat turned nearly broadside, almost capsizing. And I was still 200 yards offshore.
After the boat and I survived the 2nd set of breakers, Jeff decided to swim back out to the boat, in case I needed help abandoning the boat and getting to shore. I think it took him almost 1/2 an hour to swim back out to the boat in those conditions. I can't begin to express how amazed I was that he would do this.
Shortly after he got back to the boat, the CG arrived, and floated a line back over 200' through the breakers to us, and told us to hook ourselves onto the line and abandon our boat, and they would then rescue us by pulling us to safety back out through the 2nd break and pulling us onboard their vessel.
Jeff promptly hooked the clip on the line to the tow eye of his boat, released his anchor line with the throw-able PFD attached to it, and demanded they pull the boat and us to safety, which they then did. We arrived at the CG station on Peanut Island at about 3:30 a.m.
9 days later Jeff got a bill for over $700 for "fuel and equipment costs" for the CG responding to a "non-life threatening situation". I convinced the owner of the marina where we worked to pay that bill, and we also sold over 200 lbs of gutted kingfish to the fish market at 85 cents per pound.
Nonetheless, I LOVE the USCG. It's just that some of them are idiots. My cousin, for example. He apologized.
THE MORAL OF THE STORY? Never go out in 4-6' seas on a 17' motorized potato chip. You need a real boat. You need a SeaCraft.