Post by: HuntinCrazy on May 14, 2016, 10:35:45 AM
I've spent most of my life either in the water or on the water and I thank my lucky stars I'm a very good swimmer.
So Thursday I was trying out a 12' aluminum boat I just bought from a buddy. Launched at Rapjohn lake and started trolling with an electric trolling motor.... Ten minutes later I landed a nice 12" trout. No biggie.....ten minutes later I was in the water with no flotation device swimming after my moving boat. :yike: fully clothed wearing tennis shoes. My glasses flew off as I did a back flip over the gunwale. It was either capsize the boat of go for a swim, I choose to swim LOL
Apparently I slid to close to the shallow gunwale and over I went. I stayed calm and swam to my moving boat, luckily I was moving very slow..catching it I grabbed on. I tried to re-enter over the side but was swamping the boat. I moved to the sturn reached in and disconnect the battery clamp. Whewwwwww.... Now I've got to get in, ok....so I got my foot on the motor and launched myself back in the boat swamping it a bit. Ouch that hurt lol.. So I Bailed out all the water and putted back to the launch to get another pair of sunglasses. There were 5 other boats on the lake and not one person saw me go over except for a guy fishing from shore. He said he watched the whole thing go down and was surprised no one came to my aid. No I did NOT yell for help..... I stayed calm, got my new glasses and returned to fishing lol catching my limit of planters for the smoker. If you have ever tried to get back into a boat after falling overboard it's no easy task.
So the moral of this story is wear a PFD
Post by: Bean Counter on May 14, 2016, 10:47:16 AM
Post by: Blacklab on May 16, 2016, 05:35:13 AM
Glad you're ok thanks for sharing.
:yeah: ;)
Had something similar happen last year on my boats maiden voyage. When I made back to the dock. I rested and gathered my thoughts. Then decided to load the boat up and go home. Someone from the bank says, why you leaving your already wet :chuckle:. Thinking to myself, if that was to happen again I don't think I could make it back. What a ride it was. Like a one eyed fish swimming in circles :chuckle:
Post by: Stein on May 16, 2016, 07:46:29 AM
Post by: Alchase on May 16, 2016, 10:23:33 AM
Post by: hunting4sanity on May 16, 2016, 10:55:34 AM
Post by: Thefisherman83 on May 16, 2016, 11:26:56 AM
Post by: Firedogg on May 16, 2016, 09:12:28 PM
Post by: Bango skank on May 16, 2016, 09:26:54 PM
Glad you made it ok. After losing a friend who was shrimping a few years ago and a few other stories I make sure to wear my auto inflating vest when by myself and am getting into the habit of having it on al, the time. Don't even notice it's on anymore. I put it on before backing the trailer into the water.
Keep in mind those things need regular servicing
Especially the older models. Im a merchant mariner and most of the guys i work with use those, and there have been a couple cases of them failing, not to mention a couple cases of them inflating unwanted. Personally i use a standard workvest. They dont fail. To each their own though.
Post by: Becky on May 16, 2016, 10:56:27 PM
Post by: LipRipper! on May 17, 2016, 07:26:42 AM
RIP SOME LIPS!
Post by: Mtn.Ghost on May 17, 2016, 08:46:01 AM
A good way is to tie a foot loop in the bow rope and step up that way. The bow has more freeboard in those small boats.
Glad you are ok and still with us.
Always try to get in from the bow if possible :tup: I know most peoples response is to get back in the boat anyway possible as fast as possible once they find themselves in the drink.....I've fallen overboard alone in a small aluminum boat myself and did swamp it trying to board it from the side. It was dark I was fully clothed, jeans, boots, flannel, and coat, I kept going under trying to shed boots and clothes all I could do was tread water long enough for a person that heard me splashing about from his home to fire up his boat and drag me aboard. He truly saved my life that night.
Post by: Ghost Hunter on May 17, 2016, 04:08:22 PM
Post by: RadSav on May 17, 2016, 04:41:20 PM
Glad you made it ok. After losing a friend who was shrimping a few years ago and a few other stories I make sure to wear my auto inflating vest when by myself and am getting into the habit of having it on al, the time. Don't even notice it's on anymore. I put it on before backing the trailer into the water.
Keep in mind those things need regular servicing
Especially the older models. Im a merchant mariner and most of the guys i work with use those, and there have been a couple cases of them failing, not to mention a couple cases of them inflating unwanted. Personally i use a standard workvest. They dont fail. To each their own though.
I wore one of the early Stearn models for a while. One day I forgot I had it on and decided to dive off the boat and take a swim to a log and back. Besides being a much worse swimmer than I had remembered the vest never did inflate. I've been a little skeptical of those things ever since. Better than nothing at all, though!
I can not remember who made them, but when I was guiding I had pull cord inflators for customers to wear. Five or six times a year we would have a customer fiddle around with the cord and POOF! Would scare the wholly crapola out of them. But at least I never saw one of those fail to charge.
I would wear the search and rescue work vest during the winter drift trips. But dang are those things are HOT! How do you keep yourself cool wearing those in the summer months Bango?
Post by: Mtn.Ghost on May 18, 2016, 05:54:54 AM
While I was cruising around helping net his gear and floating beer cans. I asked him if he atleast seen any fish while he was down there :chuckle:
Post by: HuntinCrazy on May 19, 2016, 06:52:39 PM
A good way is to tie a foot loop in the bow rope and step up that way. The bow has more freeboard in those small boats.That is an excellent idea. Thanks for the heads up. :tup: :tup:
Post by: HuntinCrazy on May 19, 2016, 06:58:36 PM
I'm glad to hear you made it out ok. You know what I love the most is that after the whole ordeal, you got back in, grabbed some new shades, and then continued on fishing to catch your limit. :tup: Nice work! I'd like to say that I'd do the same, but I might have been too pissed and went home after that. It looked like it was a beautiful day though, warm enough to dry you off.Lol thanks bud...just hard core and stubborn I guess
RIP SOME LIPS!
Post by: Bango skank on May 19, 2016, 07:05:06 PM
Glad you made it ok. After losing a friend who was shrimping a few years ago and a few other stories I make sure to wear my auto inflating vest when by myself and am getting into the habit of having it on al, the time. Don't even notice it's on anymore. I put it on before backing the trailer into the water.
Keep in mind those things need regular servicing
Especially the older models. Im a merchant mariner and most of the guys i work with use those, and there have been a couple cases of them failing, not to mention a couple cases of them inflating unwanted. Personally i use a standard workvest. They dont fail. To each their own though.
I wore one of the early Stearn models for a while. One day I forgot I had it on and decided to dive off the boat and take a swim to a log and back. Besides being a much worse swimmer than I had remembered the vest never did inflate. I've been a little skeptical of those things ever since. Better than nothing at all, though!
I can not remember who made them, but when I was guiding I had pull cord inflators for customers to wear. Five or six times a year we would have a customer fiddle around with the cord and POOF! Would scare the wholly crapola out of them. But at least I never saw one of those fail to charge.
I would wear the search and rescue work vest during the winter drift trips. But dang are those things are HOT! How do you keep yourself cool wearing those in the summer months Bango?
Im just accustomed to them. Wear a tshirt underneath. If youre out on deck in the summer dragging heavy lines around youre hot and sweaty no matter what. I like knowing that if i go over there wont be a mechanical failure preventing me from floating. And i never see anybody with an inflatable stearns, its mustang across the board. But i get a good laugh when somebodys collar inflates when its not supposed to and they have to take it in to get repacked.
Post by: HuntinCrazy on May 20, 2016, 11:12:15 AM
You are one lucky man that's for sure.A good way is to tie a foot loop in the bow rope and step up that way. The bow has more freeboard in those small boats.
Glad you are ok and still with us.
Always try to get in from the bow if possible :tup: I know most peoples response is to get back in the boat anyway possible as fast as possible once they find themselves in the drink.....I've fallen overboard alone in a small aluminum boat myself and did swamp it trying to board it from the side. It was dark I was fully clothed, jeans, boots, flannel, and coat, I kept going under trying to shed boots and clothes all I could do was tread water long enough for a person that heard me splashing about from his home to fire up his boat and drag me aboard. He truly saved my life that night.
Post by: h2ofowlr on May 20, 2016, 12:50:19 PM
Post by: csaaphill on May 20, 2016, 08:13:51 PM
yeah glad to hear your ok.
Post by: silverdalesauer on May 23, 2016, 10:12:41 PM
What a great reminder that we're all susceptible when we're on the water. And the crazy thing is, our kids are watching us when we don't wear a PFD.
Post by: Buckewe on May 24, 2016, 02:21:46 PM
I saw a guy go overboard at storm lake out in three lakes. He was in one of those little plastic tupperware bass buggy things and he had a bar stool for a pedestal seat. He was knocking back 24oz cans of ice house beer like they were going out of style. Well he tipped one back a little too far and went over backwards....splash!!!! I asked him if he needed help and he assured me that he was okay and had it under control but I pulled anchor and headed his direction just to be safe. He managed to get back aboard and started laughing so I couldn't but laugh with him.
While I was cruising around helping net his gear and floating beer cans. I asked him if he atleast seen any fish while he was down there :chuckle:
Was that about 5years ago? I saw a similar situation on theat lakewhere a guy in a little boat set the hook way to hard and went over backwards.
Post by: ICEMAN on June 27, 2016, 09:50:07 PM
Glad you made it back safe.
What a great reminder that we're all susceptible when we're on the water. And the crazy thing is, our kids are watching us when we don't wear a PFD.
Great thread and great reminder here. I have feared this scenario for decades. Glad you are ok.
Post by: sumbeech66 on June 27, 2016, 10:33:41 PM
A good way is to tie a foot loop in the bow rope and step up that way. The bow has more freeboard in those small boats.
Noted !
Glad everything was OK