This was on the Columbia Bar yesterday. The guy stole the boat. The Coast Guard trains constantly, we've been staying in that area in October for the past several years and watch them train. This time is was real. https://twitter.com/USCGPacificNW/status/1621614076811169793
They do the heavy surf training outside of Yaquina Bay. I've seen the Coasties roll those boats in the heavy surf for trailing. One of these days, I need to go set up on the end of the jettie and get some photos of them. A few weeks ago, they launched from Depot Bay and motored to the bar at Yaquina. I hear the king tides were spectacular. I sure hope they all came out of the washing machine ok.
And that wasn't one of the heavy surf boats either. I feel for the two guys I seen on the swim platform and that rescue swimmer. They went for one hell of a ride.
Well, the local (Portland) news reported, one of the guys rescued, is headed back to Canada. Pick out of the water and is wanted.
Amazing footage. If true he stole the boat, I hope the idiot spends some prison time for putting the Coasties in danger to save his criminal ass.
Some debris has washed up on one of the beaches close by. Sure hope the owner was insured, he's not getting anything from the thief .
The coast guard that rescued the criminal …… it’s was his first rescue…. He was a rookie…… good for him
So a criminal steals a boat, let's it get destroyed, and we get to spend our tax money paying for the rescue? Great! Leave the f-er out there...(OK, a little jest, I don't want anyone to die...well maybe some people)
The Coast Guard was already out there training when the may day call came in. They didn't know it was stolen. He was a suspect in in some other stuff in the town of Astoria, so he was on a roll. He's also not from this country, he's from Canada. lol
Good Morning America played the video yesterday morning and had a big segment on it. Showed him putting the fish on someone's porch... On a good day, the Columbia Bar is something I never really could say I enjoyed it.... Bennett
I've been over the bar 3 times. The first one we missed the sweet spot of timing because the skipper didn't know how to calculate tides. We were coming in and got rocked in about 8' waves. The other guy and I gave him a math/tide lesson that evening and the next morning when we left it was much better. When we took Beachcomber across the bar it was a piece of cake. 4'-5' seas straight on the bow. Except for the fog it was a wonderful crossing.
I've been told to all of them but Tillamook at slack. And Depot Bay only on days your life insurance is paid in full.
I don't think I would ever try Depoe Bay, no matter what my life insurance status was. For those of you not familiar with it, look at it on Google Maps, then watch some videos of boats that made it and boats that didn't.
I used to do Depoe Bay in the '80s and '90s. If you have a planing boat with lots of HP, you can run in or out at will as long as the swells are not breaking. You can't be timid and you can't hesitate and let a following swell catch you or you will likely broach. The guys that really have to know what's up is the guys running the charter boats and the commercial crabbers and such. Their boats are slow and they have to read the swells and have proper position when the following swells catch them so they aren't set onto the rocks. More than one boat has went back out and waited hours for conditions to change.
I have a customer that runs in and out all the time. He said it's best done by a monkey. two hands on the wheel and two hands controlling the throttles. All while reading and playing the swells. I told him I would gladly meet him somewhere else.
