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Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: Things I've Lost from my Yak  (Read 41049 times)

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craig

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Tualatin, OR
  • Date Registered: Jul 2008
  • Posts: 3814
Amazon had the Penn Spinfisher on sale last week so I picked up a 4500. Today I dropped it, along with a Shimano Trevala, into 100 feet of water off of Browns Point the first time using it. I had it sitting by my side. While peddling back to start my drift again I was distracted for a moment and then heard it fall into the water. I had about 2 seconds and it was out of site. Longest 2 seconds of my life.  :(

I marked the spot on my fish finder and went back to try snagging it off the bottom, but in 100' I felt pretty hopeless. Oh well, I paid the stupid tax today. Yet another lesson learned. At least I didn't drop my trolling rod/real.
Aaaaand . . . what did you learn from this experience?

  • Secure everything I don't have in my hands. Even for a minute. Always.
  • Pay attention. Getting distracted can cost you.

Unrelated, I learned the lot at Dash Point is pretty much packed full by 6:30 in the morning this time of year. There were no humpies but there were a lot of people out looking for them. Also, Browns Point was pretty awesome and I'll be going back. A lot of bait in the area. I won't be jigging for a little while :D so I'll have to work on mooching and trolling.


That "ploop" sound that you hear beside you or behind you is one of the worst sounds you can hear.  Don't even ask how many cameras I have lost.


Zach.Dennis

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Beaverton, OR
  • Date Registered: Aug 2015
  • Posts: 799
I have lost my last two wedding rings. They come off when I take off my gloves in the ocean and I never notice it.  My wife wants to kill me. 2 new rings in one year :o
« Last Edit: November 03, 2017, 08:56:01 AM by Zach.Dennis »
2021 1st Place ORC
2023 1st Place ORC


Mojo Jojo

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Suffers from Yakfishiolus Catchyitis
  • Location: Tillamook, Oregon
  • Date Registered: May 2014
  • Posts: 6006
I have lost my last two wedding rings. They come off when I take off my gloves in the ocean and I never notice it.  My wife wants to kill me. 2 new rings in gone year :o
Gloves ? Come on man up it only stinks for a day or two.  >:D



Shannon
2013 Jackson Big Tuna "Aircraft Carrier"
2011 Native Mariner Propel "My pickup truck"
2015 Native Slayer Propel "TLW's ride"
20?? Cobra Fish-N-Dive “10yo grandson’s”
20?? Emotion Sparky “5 yr old granddaughter’s”


Wilfite

  • Rockfish
  • ****
  • Fish'n's good, Catch'n's better.
  • Location: Columbia City, OR
  • Date Registered: Oct 2017
  • Posts: 119
Well, not from my kayak, but in my several years living aboard I've lost 2 cell phones, 2 pda's, an "original" vice grip my father in law gave me, a speaker, a rear shroud from my old ketch, any number of screwdrivers and a 44' Chris Craft.  It only gets better from here :-)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

-Tony

Wilderness Systems Thresher 15.5 (Yellow)
Old Town Predator MK, (Lime Green Camo)


hdpwipmonkey

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Cornelius, OR
  • Date Registered: Nov 2014
  • Posts: 1481
... and a 44' Chris Craft.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Ok, there's got to be a good story behind this one.
Ray
2020 Hobie Outback "Chum Chicken"
2018 Native Titan 10.5 "Battle Barge"
Wilderness Tarpon 100






www.facebook.com/HOWNOC


2016 Junk Jig Challenge
Category - IT’S NOT A DRINKING PROBLEM IF YOU’RE BEING CREATIVE
1st place - The Drunken Bastard


Wilfite

  • Rockfish
  • ****
  • Fish'n's good, Catch'n's better.
  • Location: Columbia City, OR
  • Date Registered: Oct 2017
  • Posts: 119
Yea...there's a story.

We were living aboard a 44' Chris Craft.  I think it was a Constellation, but it had been customized in the past so the bridge and aft deck were different.  We took it to the drydock that morning for the engine intake through-hulls to be replaced (they were weeping) and get a new battery for the port side engine.  While in the air, I had them do a hammer survey of the lower hull.  Other than badly needing a paint job and one scuffed up spot under the stern that was probably from a piece of driftwood that had gotten hung up underneath, the hull was in surprisingly good shape.  No rotten sounding areas and everything looked sound.  ~$1400.00 later they dropped the boat back in and we headed downstream to our slip.  It was so nice to have that second engine running, I decided to head under the I5 bridge and do a quick run down to the end of Hayden Island before turning and heading home, just to be out on the water a bit.  We were all up on the bridge deck around 10 minutes later and I started to think my eyes were playing tricks on me.  Just seemed like I could see more river beyond the bow than I should.  I didn't catch on to it right away, but a minute or two later I realized it wasn't a trick of the eye and the bow was actually riding low.  Yikes!

I checked the alarm panel, but there were no alarms or bilge pump lights on.  I sent my wife down below to check the bilge pumps and a few seconds later I hear "Oh my God!".  She runs up and says the whole forward cabin was flooded.  I handed her the wheel and ran down to the salon quickly and sure enough, there was 10-14 inches of water in the forward cabin.  This meant there was already hundreds of gallons in the bilge.  I quickly looked over the side and the bilge pumps were running full, but the water level was still rising visibly.  I spent a precious moment to check the thru-hulls I could access in that area, but the water was rising too fast for more than a cursory check without risking my family.  If we had to abandon ship where we were, we would be swept downstream past Hayden Island with a very good chance of one or more of us not making it.  There was too much current to reach the beach easily. 

At this point, about 2 minutes had elapsed since I first took the "trick of my eye" seriously and probably 1 minute from sending my wife to check the bilge.  We still had both engines running and were making headway, so I thought quickly about where I could beach the boat or at least get into shallow enough water we could bottom out flat.  Our position was right at the downstream side of Hayden Island, mid channel.  The shore in that area is all rocks & downed trees on the island side and concrete sea walls & boulders on the opposite side.  I remembered a sandy beach about 1/4 mile upstream.  Up to this point, we had been going downstream with throttles about 30-40%.  Even with the boat being flooded, boat handling hadn't changed noticeably.  This is why I hadn't twigged to the problem earlier.  Making a quick judgement on how fast the water was rising, I figured I had maybe 10 minutes before the water reached the air intakes on the twin Detroit's.  We had passed the beach about 4 minutes ago.  I ran up to the bridge, instructed my wife to get everyone into lifejackets, grab some line and keep everyone on the bridge close to the back deck (in case the boat rolled or something went catastrophically wrong...I didn't say that part).  We were just approaching the confluence of the back and main channel of the big C.  There were some nasty currents and eddys so I didn't want to try to turn the boat too fast, but time was of the essence.  I throttled back and started to turn broadside to the current to make for the beach.  Without warning, the water below started to slosh and the boat leaned way left and right.  After a few scary moments, I got us turned upstream and headed for the beach.  For just a moment, I thought that was it and we were going over.  Up to this point I had thought maybe we could get into shallow water, find and fix whatever the problem was and be ok.  After my trip below and feeling the wallowing way the boat was behaving now, however, I knew that without help we were going to lose the boat and we might not all make it back to shore because of the condition of the currents in that area of the river. 

I have been on and around boats all my life.  I had studied emergency procedures many times before "just in case".  I never thought I'd ever actually use it, but when needed it all came back to me quickly, thank God.  I got on the radio and made a mayday call to the Coast Guard on channel 16.  At that point, the water below had almost breached the top step from the fore-cabin to the galley.  After just a moment of explaining our situation on the radio, the Coast Guard dispatcher said they had two teams on maneuvers over at Swan Island.  They were 11 minutes out and headed our way.  The sheriff department had a boat upstream a little farther away as well.  Just a moment later, Columbia River Marine Assistance called on the radio to say they had a salvage boat with a crash pump and were about 9 minutes out.  It was...humbling...to know the world was scrambling for us.  On the boat with me was my wife, my 5 year old daughter and 13 year old Dachshund.  Also on board was pretty much everything we owned.  My wife knew we were in trouble, but I don't think she really understood how bad things were.  My daughter was amazing.  She could tell something was wrong, but didn't freak out.  I calmly (as much as I could) told her we were in some trouble, but Daddy was going to try to get us out of it and help was on the way.  I told her to listen to do whatever Mommy said to and to stay with her.  The whole time, she dealt with it calmly without crying or anything.  By now the water had reached the galley sole and the bow of the boat was noticeably lower in the water.

I had spent all morning walking around the boat on the drydock, so I was very familiar with the entire hull.  I mentally did a walk around and came to the disturbing conclusion that at this point the water had reached the dried out upper hull planks and was probably pouring into the dried upper seams (the boat was kept under cover and the upper hull was almost never wet.  I had planned on re-seaming the boat in a couple weeks).  I also knew the air intakes were about 6" over the main salon sole.  Glancing down the hatch, I could see the water was halfway up the galley step into the main salon.

With the boat turned upstream, the water pressure on the bow increased and the boat slowed down.  I was afraid of pushing the throttles up any more, both because of the increasing water pressure and out of concern a rising bow would push water farther back in the bilge and flood out the engines, so I  compromised by keeping the throttles were they were and made a beeline for the beach.  During this time, I spoke with the Coast Guard and CRMA over the radio to give them updates.  The towboat driver was telling me to go below and try to de-water with a bucket, but there was so much water coming in it wouldn't help and I hadn't yet taught my wife how to do more than hold the wheel so I really didn't feel I could risk handing off the helm to her in these conditions.  I did check that the bilge pumps were still running and, amazingly they were.  The battery bank was under at least 4' of river water at this point.  I very quickly reviewed abandon ship procedures with my wife and daughter, explaining where to jump off the boat to avoid the prop and for them to tie themselves together.  The dog plan was to toss him in and pray.  He could swim, and even liked it, but it would take all of our attention to get our daughter off and safe should the worst happen.

The whole time this is happening, obviously I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what could have happened.  There were many possibilities...a problem with the work the yard did maybe?  An old hose that had finally given way?  Maybe we hit something?  Nothing I could do about it right then, so I pushed off those thoughts for the moment and focused on keeping my family alive and trying to save the boat. 

A very long 6 or 7 minutes later, I could see the target beach up ahead, maybe a thousand feet or a bit more away.  There was a big douglass fir that had fallen from the bank into the water and was sticking out into the channel quite a ways at the downstream edge of the beach, and the whole thing was only a few hundred feet long, with big rocks on either end.  I had to avoid the snag & the rocks or they would rip out the bottom so I swung wide out into the channel, turned broadside to the current again (with another heart-stopping partial roll included) and aimed upstream just a bit to account for the current.  As I headed into the beach, the boat continued to roll left and right just a bit with all the water aboard.  I thought we were going to make it.  Looking over the side, I could see we were in probably 15' of water, and the bottom was coming up.  The deck of our boat was about 10' from the bottom and the bridge deck was at about 15'. 

The main salon sole was breached by now and under ~4" of water.  The two big engine hatches were floating and the cabin was generally a mess of floating objects.  We only had moments of power left.   I started pushing the throttle up now.  We were only maybe.....75-100 feet from shore and it was going to be close.  As engine power came up, the boat took a fateful roll to starboard...and the starboard engine sputtered and died.  My heart dropped and I knew it was all over.  I kicked over the wheel to try to keep us going, but it didn't make a difference.  Wwith only port side propulsion the boat swung out back upstream and the port engine sputtered and died even as I as reaching for the throttle.  No long under power, the bow swung back to point at the beach, but we'd lost all headway.  We were in ~8' of water, about 25' from the beach.  I could still hear the bilge pumps running, with the sound of the engines no longer drowning them out.  I gave an update over the radio, heard that help was still 2-3 minutes out and headed down below to bucket out water.  I knew it wouldn't really make a difference, but I had to do something productive.  I couldn't just stand there and wait for help passively while my home sank below me.

Finally, 10 minutes from the first mayday call, CRMA was the first to reach me.  He pulled up on my port side, fired up his crash pump and handed me a humongous hose.  I don't remember how big exactly, but it was at least 4-6", possibly bigger.  I shoved it down into the starboard engine hatch and I could see water pouring from the back of the salvage boat like a firehose.  I stood there, up to my knees in water with the boat listing slightly to starboard and hoped and prayed.  About a minute later the coast guard arrived, followed by the sheriff's boat.  The bow was almost fully awash.  After a minute of pumping, it was obvious it was making no difference and we shut the pump down so the other boat wouldn't get tangled up with mine as it sank.  The Coast Guard swung their RIB in close to pick up my family.  I was down below.  The boat had started to list a little more, and the Coast Guard instructed me that I was at risk of rolling and it was time to leave.  I grabbed my backpack from work and our flex file with important papers and took one last look before heading up to the bridge deck, which was slanted down quite a bit now.  I stepped down to the awash back deck, and stepped UP to the RIB.

The Coast Guard and the CMRA boat worked together to push our boat up onto the beach as far as they could.  We made arrangements on the spot to salvage the boat since it would get more and more expensive to do so as conditions worsened.  They called in their other boat and got to work.  I transferred to the Sheriff's boat where my family had already transferred to and they took us back to our marina where our vehicles were at and dropped us off at the fuel dock.  It was...surreal.

After it was all said and done, it took ~13 hours for them to re-float the boat.  The boat driver told me they finally stopped the boat sinking when the water was just 1" below the 42" TV I'd mounted on the aft bulkhead of the main salon just a few weeks before (I still have that tv today).  Once floated, they took the boat back to the yard where the work had been done and inspected everything.  Nothing was found for a cause, and the work they had done checked out.  I had an international trip for work 1 week away.  The boat floated fine and was not taking on any water, even the next morning.  By the end of the next week I had towed the boat to and from boat yards twice, and Friday morning had the boat lifted onto a truck and taken to a yard in Scappoose to be scrapped.  I had put much of our savings into this boat already and simply didn't have the budget to rebuild.  We only have theories on where the initial water came from.  When I scrapped the boat weeks later, the yard that did it said they found some rot in the main timbers that support the bow and some of the screws were just kind of "there" with nothing to actually grab on to even though the hull planks were fine.  My best guess is that under pressure, one of the hull planks just peeled away, then sprang back when the pressure was released.  Unfortunately once the water got high up on the sides of the boat, it was coming in through dried out seams so it was a sieve at that point.

Lots and lots and lots of lessons learned here, but I'll only point out some of the ones that apply directly to kayaking:

1)  Pay attention to your surroundings!  If I had realized immediately what was going on when I first noticed the bow sitting low, it might have bought me enough time to reach the beach.  Pay attention to the way your boat handles, to differences in the sound of the water.
2)  Know your emergency procedures.  The chances of a SHTF moment are slim, but they are there.  When SDHTF, you need to KNOW what to do, not be figuring it out on the fly.
3)  Have the right emergency equipment close and to-hand so there's no time wasted trying to find it.  Keep it maintained!
4)  If you will be in an area away on your own, make sure your radio is in good working order.  I had not raised my VHF antenna before we left and some of the radio comms were pretty fuzzy.  That could have been bad if we'd been only a bit farther away from the Coast Guard Station Portland.  I later learned that folks who were online at our marina had no idea what was going on.
5)  Seriously evaluate risk.  I should have headed back to the slip and simply watched the boat for a few hours before going to have fun.  I expected to get a bit of water aboard because wood planks dry out and shrink when in dry-dock.  I figured whatever we got aboard (should really only have been a few gallons from that) the pumps could handle.
6)  Tell people where you are going when you go out.  No one knew we'd gone for a bit of a ride.  If the radio hadn't worked we would have had to abandon ship in the middle of the Columbia River with no one even looking for us.  My dog never would have made it.  The rest of us...probably, but nothing is certain.  I had almost lost both my wife and daughter when my wife rolled her car at 7 months pregnant.  I left this incident feeling like I'd almost lost them both again.
7) While it was expensive, and heartbreaking, and just totally sucked, All of us walked away healthy other than one little scratch when boarding one of the other boats.  In the end, we were all alive.  Boats can be replaced, people can't.

It's been a tough 4 years now, but we're finally back on our feet.  Work has been good, we bought a house and I finally have a great kayak to get back out on the water again.  For now, another big boat isn't in the cards or the budget but you never know what the future holds.  My wife and I both really miss our sailboats (before the 44' CC) and living aboard.  I will never have another wood boat, however.  This situation would never have happened with a plastic boat.

Anyway, DAMHIK, but even when things really, truly suck, life gets better.   When you are standing there, hip deep in your problems and your heart is breaking you just have to give it some time, a whole lotta effort and never, ever give up.

Edit: Fixed typos and added a couple details.
« Last Edit: November 03, 2017, 11:23:21 PM by Wilfite »
-Tony

Wilderness Systems Thresher 15.5 (Yellow)
Old Town Predator MK, (Lime Green Camo)


skidlybo

  • Perch
  • ***
  • Location: Lake Stevens, WA
  • Date Registered: Sep 2014
  • Posts: 70
Sheesh.  What a nail biter of a story.  Glad you all made it out of that worst case scenario.  Thanks for sharing.  Your advice is spot on as well.  We can all learn from it in some way.


yaktastic

  • A cowboy in a kayak? I never was normal.
  • Salmon
  • ******
  • shut up and let me fish.
  • Location: The Dalles Or
  • Date Registered: Feb 2013
  • Posts: 857
Pliers and sunglasses.
4th place 2017 TBKD Rockfish.


Mojo Jojo

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Suffers from Yakfishiolus Catchyitis
  • Location: Tillamook, Oregon
  • Date Registered: May 2014
  • Posts: 6006
Two salmon on at the net one LDR.



Shannon
2013 Jackson Big Tuna "Aircraft Carrier"
2011 Native Mariner Propel "My pickup truck"
2015 Native Slayer Propel "TLW's ride"
20?? Cobra Fish-N-Dive “10yo grandson’s”
20?? Emotion Sparky “5 yr old granddaughter’s”


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Adding a pair of genuine surgical hemostats - the good ones, a pair of cheap sunglasses; a Plano stowaway full of flies; 85 cents; and you've already heard about my Yard Sale Without a Huli.
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
I was snorkeling and speargunning for pike, and a friend who is a kayak angler paddled by and said hello.  A minute later he knocked his rod off his kayak into the water.  I swam over, and could see it lying on the bottom.  I was able to recover it by discharging my spear gun, and then lowering the spear and hooking the rod with the spear's barb.


hdpwipmonkey

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Cornelius, OR
  • Date Registered: Nov 2014
  • Posts: 1481
What an "edge of the seat" story Wilfite.  Thank you for sharing.  I'm glad everyone got out safely.  You are right about about prepare for the worst.  You never know when tragedy will strike.  No matter if it's a 40ft boat or a 12ft kayak things can go very bad very quickly.  That's why I try to never go out alone and always be prepared.
Ray
2020 Hobie Outback "Chum Chicken"
2018 Native Titan 10.5 "Battle Barge"
Wilderness Tarpon 100






www.facebook.com/HOWNOC


2016 Junk Jig Challenge
Category - IT’S NOT A DRINKING PROBLEM IF YOU’RE BEING CREATIVE
1st place - The Drunken Bastard


Dark Tuna

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • "Dark Tuna?"
  • Location: Redmond / Sammamish, WA
  • Date Registered: Aug 2014
  • Posts: 453
One week-old bass rod & reel.   I'd not yet installed a float.   I wonder what's next.

Almost lost a 2-person Sea-Doo with a passenger from taking on water near Tampa.   Made it back to shore after I realized *more power* would cause the water to drain from the missing plug.   The drama came in the no-wake zone.   And I lost myself and / or my passenger (lol!) off that boat more times than I'll ever recall...

2015 Jackson Big Tuna (tandem) (dark forest)
2016 Hobie Outback LE (screamin' orange)
2014 KC Kayaks K12 (the better half's, in camo)
2015 Jackson Kraken 13.5 (bluefin)

Raymarine Dragonfly; BB Angler Aces; Kokatat Hydrus 3L SuperNova Angler Dry Suit; Stohlquist Fisherman PFD


 

anything