Share a SCARY experience

I

irishfire

New Member
Sep 15, 2009
134
toronto
Boat Info
78 SRV 240 weekender
Engines
1 lonely 5.7L Merc
So today was "take out" day for the boat...i am docked in the Toronto Marina...it was a cool and very windy day but i thought no sweat just across the lake a fair bit to the launch ramp and out goes the boat for storage...well if only it was that easy...the inner harbour was quite choppy and i had to get the head pumped out ( i am by myself too ) so i went to the self serve and was banged around quite good with that task, but no damage and got the job done...so then off i went to leave the inner harbour into the Lake Ontario to go east...The gentleman i saw at the pump out asked where i was going, so i answered Ashbridges launch ramp...he replied "oh there is an East wiind, be careful...I was thinking "be careful" ? really of what? keep in mind my boating experience is minimal...so i said for sure and off i went...
the wind kicked up a bit and was quite cold, as i left the protection of the inner harbour i got a terrible surprise...Now i realise why that guy said becareful...as I rounded last point that was protecting from the east wind, the swells increased to what seemd like 8 feet...put it this way, when i was in the trough all i saw was water...oh oh...my boat is just a little guy and my experience even smaller...i was afreaid to turn around in fear of flipping over but had no choice and as i got it turned i was on the crest of a huge wave, and slammed down...i was so freaked out i didnt notice the anchor had freed itself from the bow and was trailing behind me 100 feet back, still attached to the boat...the engine revved but lost speed...it was then i saw the line out the side...now i am really scared...i managed to drag it back into the safety of the eastern point before i had the guts to leave the wheel...i pulled it in a sat there for a minute to take a few deep breaths...HOLY %^&*...
however i never did get to the launch ramp...and limped back in sheepishly...
i know to the "experienced boaters" this is a no fear scenario, but i can always admit when i am freaked out...it was a learing experience for sure...
I cant wait till i am no longer such a novice...i have alot of respect for the water and for the seasoned sailors and boaters out there hands down....

any other stories to share?
 
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Wow I'm glad you made it safely.

Don't put yourself down because that is a scary experience for all boaters, regardless of experience. The only thing is, when you feel it might be too windy, try to reschedule! We've been caught in some wild stuff too, very similar to what you were describing about being literally INSIDE the waves. We were in some ~12+ft rollers just like you are describing. The feeling of the water creeping up the waterline almost to the top of the bow is unforgettable, not to mention the feeling of flipping over if you turn around. That was by far the worst we've been in ... there seems to be no safe way to efficiently deal with swells like that.

I guess the knowledge you can take away from encounters like this is the effect of wind on different bodies/areas of water. When we encountered the large rollers that I mentioned before, we were in an area of water that was totally new to us (for boaters in New England, the area was beyond Cuttyhunk heading SW towards Newport, RI.) This body of water has a lot more fetch than the area we spend most of our time boating in (Between Falmouth/Hyannis and Martha's Vineyard/Nantucket). Once we got past Cuttyhunk, where the fetch (span of ocean where the wind can affect the water) is a lot larger, it got a lot ROUGHER. The fetch in the protected waters we boat is in between 6 and 30 miles. The fetch of the water where we encountered the large swells in is probably 3,000 miles! Anyway, just my thoughts.

Glad you made it OK.
 
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I was running a 50' Viking MY down the east coast for a customer. On the first leg, Annapolis to Norfolk, we got off to a late start after filling up, ran down the ches bay, started pulling into Norfolk right at dark. When I was cruising past all the Nany ships and their security down the shipping channel the engines quit. I restarted them, they quit, restart, quit, etc. Must be fuel. So now I'm drifting towards the Navy yard at night in this big pig. I actually forget what I did since it was like 5 or 6 years ago, but i think I transferred fuel to one tank and was able to run in on one engine. Then was able to fire up the other engine for a few brief moments to dock. What I learned? Nothing really :grin: Just that a 50 Viking is an absolute pig on fuel with a very short range :smt101

Being out of fuel is more of a PITA than anything, the scary part was drifting towards the Navy yard at night while I raced the clock to get things working again.
 
Leaving Beaufort inlet at roughly 6am in the dark when bad weather is forecasted. Damn headboats were coming back in, they're 3 times our size and losing money by returning. My friend, the captain of a 36 viking says no worries, besides there's only a few days left of bluefin season. We left the inlet in 8-10's, 3-4 miles out it turned to 12's. We were laughing at our own stupidity and I had started drinking beer 30 minutes earlier to calm my own nerves.

There were three of us on board and we were discussing whether it was worth it when we started going up hill and up and up....When we crested, we all hit our heads on the hard top as 30,000lbs of Viking dropped through thin air. All I remember hearing was the diesels revving and the props searching for liquid. Luckily, the fall was not a nose dive but a cartoon like drive off a cliff, stop for a second then, fall perfectly flat downwards. The landing was unreal, it shook in a way you wouldn't think fiberglass could handle. That wave was an easy 25' and was breaking at the top. Twice as tall and much steeper than any of the others around, a rogue wave. There was no discussion at that point, we were heading back.
Upon returning, damage was assessed. There was thousands in damage to the boat. Sliding door was shattered, cabinets off the walls, port lights cracked, smashed engine stringer, steps to the bridge pulled out of the glass mounting etc. That was one of only a handful of times I was actually scared for my life.

Last summer, a cypress stump finally put that viking to rest on the bottom of the ICW near Belhaven NC, thankfully without me in it.
 
Irishfire, man you got lucky with that anchor line. It could have wrapped up in the prop or took hold while you were turning at an angle...

But now you have an appreciation for the boat, nature and the water, so you are a more experienced boater now. At least you realize your limitations and aren't ashamed to know when to call it quits!

Do you have a windlas? How come the anchor wasn't stowed?

All you other guys have great stories, keep them coming. Scary for you but educational for us. LOL about gas prices...
 
4 years ago I was tied to the concrete sea wall in downtown Cincinnati. As we departed I stood on the sea wall and pushed the boat away to try and avoid any fiberglass damage. It was windy and choppy, I misjudged and found myself clinging to the bow rail with my feet on the sea wall...a "human bridge of sorts". The boat drifted a little further away from the wall and into the Ohio river I went! So now I have a running boat with only my twelve year on board. I scraped my arm on the way down and was lucky I didn't hit my head on the wall. I managed to swim to the boat and all ended well. A humbling experience that left me a much more cautious boater.
Here is a shot of the sea wall and my old 220DA from another day:
serpintinewallev4.jpg
 
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wow, these are great stories to hear, as long as no one is getting hurt...Hey Newbie your stories sounds crazyness...i would $%^& my pants...makes my scare look mediocre at best...lol...so when the boat sank, how did the people to shore?

Hey KRB, no i dont have a windlas, i have to pull it up manually...it was secured but i guess not secured well enough....i cant imagine what would have happened if it actually anchored...i i think it would be like being pinned under a waterfall and...dont want to think of it...i think we can learn from each others stories....
 
Wow, glad you made it back OK. The anchor line must have been a great pucker factor!!

I was anchored in Cook Inlet waiting on slack tide to continue my halibut fishing. I decided to take a nap. My son woke me up and asked me what the white things were coming toward the boat. I jumped up and saw I was in the middle of a commercial drift net fleet. They thought I was a Charter boat. That year the Charters and drift net guys were at war with each other.

This guy dropped his net right across my bow to send me a message. I had a buoy and anchor out, so he knew I was anchored, hard. The tide was heading out and traveling about 8 mph or more. Cook Inlet has the 2 or 3rd worst tides in the world. It can go from a -12 low tide to a +32 tide.

As the net drifted across my bow, I ran to the back and raised my engine just as the net engulfed my boat. The force of the tide and the net over my bow rode started to pull my bow under and the back of my boat was already 2 feet out of the water. Everyone was screaming as I grabbed a knife and headed to the front to cut the net. Then I heard a voice over a load speaker and looked up and the commercial boat that dropped the net yelled at me "If you cut my net I will kill you!" He had a shotgun pointed at me. I cut my anchor line.

As I floated away from the net, the boat shouted "You know the rules, you are not suppose to be out here with customers during this time!"

I was pissed and very scared as I just about lost my family. I wrote the ID numbers down and reported the incident to the USCG.

As it turns out the fleet was only suppose to be 13 miles off shore and they were 24 miles. This particular boat had its license pulled.
 
KRB64 said:
Irishfire, man you got lucky with that anchor line. It could have wrapped up in the prop or took hold while you were turning at an angle...
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing when I read it. He was in alot more danger than he realized.

Irishfire... I hope you were wearing a life vest.
 
I posted this once before.

Back in the late 80’s I bought my first boat. A 1979 260 sundancer with a Merc 260 and Alpha 1 stern drive. The first winter I owned it, I winterized the engine and removed the plugs on the exhaust manifolds to drain the water. When I put one of the plugs back in it didn’t tighten up correctly. It was snug but turning it more didn’t tighten it. The former owner had placed a bunch of gasket sealant (orange stuff) on the plug so it probably was already stripped. I didn’t have any sealant with me :huh:so I left the plug in the way it was and planned on dealing with it in the spring. :thumbsup:

Spring came, the sun was shining the air was warm and I got the boat ready for launch. I reinstalled the batteries and the stern drive. I hooked up water with the ear muffs and started the boat on land and let it run for about 10 minutes. I checked for leaks and everything looked fine. :smt038 I completely forgot about the plug on the manifold. The marina launched the boat, I jumped on and off I went.

I was alone on the boat and was heading north from Lawrence Harbor up through the Arthur Kill water way towards Bayonne. This waterway is heavily used by oil tankers and offshore tugs pushing garbage barges. It was early April.

I was on plane heading north, just south of the Outer Bridge Crossing and came across an oil tanker that was being turned around by tug boats. I had to stop and wait for the ship to get out of the way. When driving, I noticed that nose of the boat was rising and there was something wrong with the trim tabs. When I pushed the buttons for the trim tabs the engine slowed down. :smt017 When I came off plane, the boat stalled. I tried to restart it but the motor wouldn’t crank. I opened up the bilge and there was water up to the intake manifold. :wow: The batteries were under water. My trim tabs were fine. I WAS SINKING.

I was on the left side of the channel, drifting back towards the middle and I couldn’t start the boat. I was being pushed by a very strong current coming down the channel AND THERE WAS A VERY LARGE BARGE HEADING IN MY DIRECTION.

I picked up the VHF got on Channel 16 and called a SECURITE SECURITE SECURITE to alert them of my situation. :smt100I explained that I lost power in the channel and was trying to get my boat restarted. I asked them to try to get the captain of the barge to stop because I was drifting on a path that was going to put me directly in front of him.

I forget what happened next, but it was clear that the tugboat was still heading down the channel towards me and my boat was not going start.

I ran downstairs grabbed a life vest and put it on. I then went to the front of the boat and in total desperation, threw the anchor out with as much line as I could. I didnt have time to lower it. I just threw it all over board. (I was in about 45 feet of water).

At this point the barge was less than 1/8 of a mile away and my boat was going to float right in front of it.

I got back on the VHF, shaking like a leaf and told the Coast Guard that the barge was not stopping and that I was about to jump over board. Just as I did this, the anchor took hold, the line got tight and I started to pivot on the anchor line. I wasn’t sure if it would swing enough to avoid the barge. I stood on the side of the boat and prepared to jump. The tug boat was blowing his horn at me and I was waiving my life vest back at him. He couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. The current was pushing him. I stood on the side of my boat getting ready to jump and the barge got closer. I got lucky. The anchor trick worked. I line tightened up and stopped drifting toward the path of the barge. The barge passed me with about 10 feet to spare. I remember looking up at the side of it as it passed. It was an ocean going barge with several tied together. It must have been 40 ft high.

After he passed, I pulled up my anchor and drifted all the way to the other side of the channel and dropped anchor again outside of the channel. The batteries had enough juice in them to run the bilge pump. I pumped out the boat, found the plug in the bilge and screwed it back into the manifold. A NJ State police boat came by after hearing my calls and I convinced them to give me a jump start. I got the engine running and idled back to my marina.

Welcome to boating…
 
AKBASSKING said:
Wow, glad you made it back OK. The anchor line must have been a great pucker factor!!

I was anchored in Cook Inlet waiting on slack tide to continue my halibut fishing. I decided to take a nap. My son woke me up and asked me what the white things were coming toward the boat. I jumped up and saw I was in the middle of a commercial drift net fleet. They thought I was a Charter boat. That year the Charters and drift net guys were at war with each other.

This guy dropped his net right across my bow to send me a message. I had a buoy and anchor out, so he knew I was anchored, hard. The tide was heading out and traveling about 8 mph or more. Cook Inlet has the 2 or 3rd worst tides in the world. It can go from a -12 low tide to a +32 tide.

As the net drifted across my bow, I ran to the back and raised my engine just as the net engulfed my boat. The force of the tide and the net over my bow rode started to pull my bow under and the back of my boat was already 2 feet out of the water. Everyone was screaming as I grabbed a knife and headed to the front to cut the net. Then I heard a voice over a load speaker and looked up and the commercial boat that dropped the net yelled at me "If you cut my net I will kill you!" He had a shotgun pointed at me. I cut my anchor line.

As I floated away from the net, the boat shouted "You know the rules, you are not suppose to be out here with customers during this time!"

I was pissed and very scared as I just about lost my family. I wrote the ID numbers down and reported the incident to the USCG.

As it turns out the fleet was only suppose to be 13 miles off shore and they were 24 miles. This particular boat had its license pulled.
Click to expand...

WTF! Man thats modern day piracy in the wild wild west! Puts another perspective on the "boating & firearms" thread.

I agree that we all can learn from these posts - hopefully most of us will never encounter these situations!

Vince - you got lucky man! Geesh...

Irish - how is your anchor secured? Doesn't it bang around just hanging there?
 
KRB64 said:
WTF! Man thats modern day piracy in the wild wild west! Puts another perspective on the "boating & firearms" thread.
Click to expand...

The funny thing is I didn't even know there was a battle going on between the charters and the commercial fleet. This type of thing happened 2 more times with chaters and the troopers finally put a stop to it. I was surprized no one was killed. I did have a 410 shotgun on board with a 44mag, but you think more of your family going overboard as I had only about 30-45 seconds to react. Man I was really shaking afterwards. If it wasn't for my family being on board....... In the end he got what was coming to him and he couldn't fish for the next 3 years.

As far as a loose anchor, I am putting my bow pulpit back together and I will be installing an anchor lock on it for sure. :thumbsup:
 
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the anchor is secured at the end of the pulpit i think it is called....it has a slack tightener and chain...then it is pinned down with a pin across it...sorry not described well....but it must have come loose...broke the pin maybe...i am not sure if i had to tightened properly...i will be looking into something more secure in the spring...FOR SURE
 
Wow, some really good stories! Mother Nature is pretty amazing, huh? Thanks everyone for posting.

Irish - you did the smart thing by turning around. Part of being a good captain is knowing you and your boat's limits. And, of course, double checking that everything is secure... with things like the anchor, tied-down in two ways :smt001

Always, always, always have a good, stout serrated-edged knife accessible. My grandmother (84 years old, now) carries one duct-taped to the end of a 4' pole.... I should clarify.... she's not out walking the neighborhood with it.... it's on her boat. :grin: Go grandma!
 
looking back, i did have a knife, i am a firefighter, so we are always thinking of situations and how to get out of them, and always have lots of gear (bit of a gear junkie) i dont think i would have been able to cut it...but the pole the granny had is actually a great idea....now that is experience talking...thanks for the idea
 
AKBASSKING said:
Wow, glad you made it back OK. The anchor line must have been a great pucker factor!!

I was anchored in Cook Inlet waiting on slack tide to continue my halibut fishing. I decided to take a nap. My son woke me up and asked me what the white things were coming toward the boat. I jumped up and saw I was in the middle of a commercial drift net fleet. They thought I was a Charter boat. That year the Charters and drift net guys were at war with each other.

This guy dropped his net right across my bow to send me a message. I had a buoy and anchor out, so he knew I was anchored, hard. The tide was heading out and traveling about 8 mph or more. Cook Inlet has the 2 or 3rd worst tides in the world. It can go from a -12 low tide to a +32 tide.

As the net drifted across my bow, I ran to the back and raised my engine just as the net engulfed my boat. The force of the tide and the net over my bow rode started to pull my bow under and the back of my boat was already 2 feet out of the water. Everyone was screaming as I grabbed a knife and headed to the front to cut the net. Then I heard a voice over a load speaker and looked up and the commercial boat that dropped the net yelled at me "If you cut my net I will kill you!" He had a shotgun pointed at me. I cut my anchor line.

As I floated away from the net, the boat shouted "You know the rules, you are not suppose to be out here with customers during this time!"

I was pissed and very scared as I just about lost my family. I wrote the ID numbers down and reported the incident to the USCG.

As it turns out the fleet was only suppose to be 13 miles off shore and they were 24 miles. This particular boat had its license pulled.
Click to expand...

Yikes, that IS scary!!
 
Pulled a shotgun on you... that's just nutz.
Good thing you have a cool head. I don't... I would have waited until I was out of scattergun range and plugged his hull full of fifty holes from my Mini.
 
I am right near you in the harbour and the lake there can be bad.

What I have learned is to go a little bit faster in that water then what common sense would dictate. You will find your boat will start cutting through the waves and you will be okay. Make sure you are on the radio and someone will come and help you if you are in trouble.

Today seems to a bit better out there.
 
In 2000 I put a deposit on a Maxum.......I ended up buying a 1 year old SeaRay. That's pretty scary. It was a close call.
 
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