The Perfect Storm

[jawbreaker]

I can understand why many Ifisher's love the ocean in all of its beauty and magnificance.
Most of all I beleive its the forcefull power that it has and the respect that one must have to either love it, or stay away from it. I am fascinated by stories of the ocean and would love to hear some of your experiences out in the last frontier. How you were able to escape the clutches of Mother Nature or were witness to a Tom Hanks type of experience. Have any of you been witness to or felt like you have experienced something halfway close to "The Perfect Storm?" Lets hear it. JB

[Salmonator]

The closest i've ever come was last year, crossing (heading in) the Columbia bar in the middle of a STRONG outgoing tide. I had to keep her at 3/4 throttle (40 miles an hour on water) which only got us about 14 mph over land according to gps while pushing through 8 to 10 foot swells. The sensation of listening to the vortec roar while appearing to not move anywhere is frightening. I was one happy camper by the time we made it to bouy 10... Joe

[Torchman]

Hehe....maybe not quite "Perfect Storm".... http://home.pacifier.com/~torchman/qriver.htm
(My picture posting never fairs well!)

[Pilar]

Ok I'll bite. I have too many fins so you have to let me go.

Every boat has a last voyage. This is the story of the last voyage of the boat named 'Frog'. The professor will remain nameless but he knows who he is.

A few years back I went to the Columbia River bar to catch Coho. I went way beyond B2 then CR and south of it a ways. There was a storm approaching the coast so the Ocean was flat. At least for a while.

I was accompanied by a professor I had befriended while attending UP. We caught 3 salmon right away and kept going south. The fourth fish eluded us and we began to troll north into a freshening breeze. I noticed many of the surrounding boats began to haul up and leave.

When we decided to leave a 1/2 hour later we were about 15 miles south of the south jetty and the wind was rapidly increasing through 15kts. I ran the boat up on a plane and we got wet every time the bow cut a wave and the wind blew the spray across the boat. By the time we passed B2 the wind was blowing hard enough to raise whitecaps and we had to slow down to 10kts.

The 'Frog' was an old Beachcraft with an equally old motor, 1962. It was a Mercury 40 horse and had given many years of good service. There was a crack in the fuel pump diaphragm and we didn't know about that.

After an hour of running into the wind the fuel pump began to lose pressure and the motor, starved for fuel started running hot.
The paper in the bilge plugged the pump and the water spray began to fill up the bilge. Pretty soon the professor had to get back by the transom and bail with a 5 gallon bucket.

As we passed B6, I looked back and saw a foot of water in the boat and the engine spewed white smoke. The professor was white as a sheet and bailing as fast as he could. It was then that I began to doubt the outcome of the race. The wind began to howl in the radio mast as we turned east to run the bar. With the wind behind us the spray stopped but the waves on the bar were cresting at about 20 feet. I climbed up and began to surf a really big one in. The trick was to avoid the part of the wave that was breaking, I struggled to stay behind it. We passed B10 and began to believe we would survive.

Almost two hours after we began the race we made it to Hammond. I finally could hear the old motor rattling and looked back to see water pouring out of the cowling on both sides. We pulled up to the dock and the old motor quit running. It never ran again.

When we got home I lifted the cowl and looked, the power head cover was split open from top to bottom across the spark plugs. I sold that little boat for $200 a week later. Lessons learned

1) When the wind changes direction or speed for the worse, leave immediately.

2) Never trust the arrival time of weather. We thought the front was due at dark it came at noon.

3) In general avoid fishing the Ocean in the afternoon, the wind almost always blows in the afternoon.

Use your brain - stay alive!@

[whitewaterbill]

Hi Salmonator!

Made that same error about 30 years ago in a 16 ft Clippercraft with a 40hp Evenrude.
After I finally calmed down and started to feel good I lifted the fuel tank and was on fumes. Somehow I made it back to the dock!
I am a little more prepared and planned now!

By the way...Week ago Saturday caught 3 clipped ones at Frenchmans bar.

Yesturday caught 2 clipped ones below the John Day Dam......Had my good luck charm and friend Chris Sessions of Shure Skunk guide service on the boat to set it all up for us.

On the way home we stopped at the Wind and fished about 1 hour and had one on and lost it.

What a great day of sunshine and fun!

Bill

[whitewaterbill]

Hi Salmonator!

Made that same error about 30 years ago in a 16 ft Clippercraft with a 40hp Evenrude.
After I finally calmed down and started to feel good I lifted the fuel tank and was on fumes. Somehow I made it back to the dock!
I am a little more prepared and planned now!

By the way...Week ago Saturday caught 3 clipped ones at Frenchmans bar.

Yesturday caught 2 clipped ones below the John Day Dam......Had my good luck charm and friend Chris Sessions of Shure Skunk guide service on the boat to set it all up for us.

On the way home we stopped at the Wind and fished about 1 hour and had one on and lost it.

What a great day of sunshine and fun!

Bill

[Killertraylor]

I've had several rough rides on the mouth of the Columbia and I've only gone past Buoy 10 once! I've fished the lower river several hundred times and I've seen boats go down within a mile of the bridge. The rule of thumb down there is that a NW wind and an ebb tide will produce nasty chop. The chop is worse than the big ocean swell because it breaks on top of you. The good news is that if you fish the Washington side of the river, you can take refuge above the bridge out of the wind until the tide changes or the wind dies (yeah right...) For boats 18 ft. or smaller, there is a rough launch about 2 miles above the bridge, but you'll need 4 wheel drive to get out. I haven't got trapped in anything rough in the last 2 years because I've learned the water/weather patterns. I won't go on the ocean unless I go with someone who knows it as well as I do the main river - knowing what the water will do with certain tide/wind conditions is crucial on big bodies of water.

[SteelieSteve]

My only buoy 10 experience was on a strong current day> We were in my friends 22' Reinell with twin 115hp evinrudes. We fished our way out and spent a couple hours out by 10 then as the tide started ripping outbound we started back in. Waves breaking over the bow(thank you full top!) and were making nearly no headway with the motors wide open. Finally we get far enough inside to get over close to the Washington shore in some calmer water and we made it back to the ramp. That is a mean river in a big tide with wind. Scared the crap outta me when those waves were breaking over the bow and we weren't making much headway. Same year he took me out of the Tillamook bubble and I got a beautiful 30 pound hen chinook. A couple days later a sneaker wave came through and near killed a bunch of people. You got to have respect for the ocean or else. images/icons/shocked.gif

[Joe Schwab]

I spent 18 years periodically working off the Columbia River bar with Fisheries Enforcement. Witnessing the best and worst of what it can dish out, I developed a healthy respect for West Coast river bars. A Coast Guard Chief told us once that nothing made him angrier than boaters who felt they could challenge the ocean and win.
He said " If the ocean wants to kill you, it will and there's nothing you can do about it. No one conquers the ocean, it just lets you live." Recognizing the obvious signs of changing weather, wind and especially knowing when the tide begins to ebb can keep boaters out of a lot of trouble. The worst thing about getting into a dangerous boating situation is the realization of the operator that your passengers had absolutely nothing to do with it. It is all on your shoulders and your actions become centered on getting your passengers to shore safely. When you finally cross that last stretch of rough water, you look back, smile and thank the ocean and your creator for another great day.
Then you can pat yourself on the back for keeping your equipment in shape, maintaining your motors, electronics and above all keeping your head. Have a safe boating season! images/icons/cool.gif

[THE REEL HEY_YALL]

Bars are pretty cool images/icons/tongue.gif

2 words: Hurri cane

2 of my best buds and I went on a road trip from B'ham down to the redneck riviera (Panama City, FL). Of course a class IV hurricane decides to show up and they pretty much evacuate the entire area. The beaches were red flagged which means serious injury or death: so in other words "no swimming." images/icons/cool.gif If caught, you will get arrested and jailed.

Those were the largest waves I've ever seen before in my life images/icons/shocked.gif It was the best time ever for body surfing. The news crew came down and couldn't stick around: sissies.

The cops eventually showed up, but couldn't persuade us to come to shore so we used the hellacious undertow to our advantage since it wasn't heading out to see, but running down parallel to the beach. Go underwater and pop up about 1/2 mile down in seconds.

That was the craziest, dumbest, and most fun I think I ever had. Words couldn't describe the scene. Of course when you show up on the news bodysurfing in a hurricane down in Florida when you told the fiancee you were just going cross town to party the weekend with the boys, things get really scary images/icons/blush.gif I miss her sometimes. images/icons/grin.gif

[boater]

when i plan on an ocean fishing trip, i always stop at the coast guard station and get an up to date weather and bar report and forecast, they are happy to give it to you and they usualy have a boat on the water that they will radio, noaa also has a live buoy report online at http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Northwest.shtml for live reports from electronic buoys.

[SuperT]

Probably in the same general area as lives to fish. I was working on a salmon processor and we were in between the red and pink seasons. Taking a little break anchored off of Kodiak Island. The captain comes down and tells me and 3 other guys that we can take the little boat (18 foot aluminum with a 55 HP Merc) out and do some exploring. It was a beautiful day, totally clear, no wind and about 75 degrees. We jumped at the chance and in about an hour we were about 15 miles from the boat. About that time a little breeze started. just enough to cause a tiny bit of chop. Me and one other guy recommended that we head back. The guy driving the boat though claimed his experience running the Columbia Bar as qualification to continue out further. 15 minutes later the winds are up to 30-40 kts and the surface is 4 foot chop. We're taking water in too fast since we didn't have a good bail so we have to stop on the island. Get the boat on shore and start emptying it out while one guy takes a stroll on the beach. Well pretty soon he sees bear tracks over a foot across and some fresh droppings. About that time someone on the other side of the boat says "What is that awful smell". 3 pairs of eyes get really big really fast and the boat gets pushed off with about 3 inches of water still in the bottom. We decide to just stay close to shore the rest of the way back. What should have been a half hour trip back took over 2. I doubt we were making more than 6 or 7 kts into that wind. We finally get back to everyone else standing on the side of the processor wondering where we were. Captain said we had 5 minutes until he was calling the Coasties. 15 minutes after we got back, no wind, and the water was like glass again. I learned a very important lesson that day. Be prepared for ANYTHING!!!

[jawbreaker]

Great stories!! Thats what I'm talking about. Yes, it is as if the ocean let you live but you know it could take you instantly. I am amazed at how strong the current is at the mouth of the Columbia and in the ocean. Much too dangerous to be taken lightly yet even with a fully seaworthy heavily equipped vessel loaded with technology there is no guarantee that there won't be problems or situations. Maybe that is the one thing you can count on in the ocean is that sooner or later you will get into some crazy situations. I have a tremendous amount of respect for those who have faced the adversity, kept a cool head and lived to tell about it. I am on the edge of my seat when I read all these great stories....yes, because of the drama but also because of the lessons that can be learned from all of your experiences.

JB


images/icons/grin.gif Hi Slutgoddess,
I hope we can fish again soon. I enjoyed the few hours that we fished with Chris in the afternoon. Sounds like your having a great year for Springers. JB

[Lives_to_fish]

After high school, I did the commercial fishing thing in AK. Flew out to Dutch Harbor and got on a 70 foot boat and fished for several months. After about 6 months, we weren’t doing all that well and then our gear got all torn up, so we headed back. It was Sep. and the weather was already starting to act up. We got blown into Kodiak for four days while a storm blew through. The warning dropped from Storm to Gail and we headed on. The seas were still kicked up to about 25 feet, but that wasn’t a problem for our boat and we were heading home after a long trip. A day later, we were running along through some good swells and blue sky when we herd a loud crash and then lost power. We had picked up a 4” diameter rope in the big 4 foot prop and the rope wrapped around the shaft between the propeller and the back of the boat. This worked a lot like a gear puller and pulled the shaft and transmission clean off the back of the engine. So here we are floating around in 20-25’ seas with no power about 14 miles off shore. Called the CG and they said that they would send a ship our way, but it was going to take 22-24 hours to get to us. The CG said that it was too windy for a chopper. We did all the things we could think of, tried to fashion a big sea anchor by throwing a deep freezer over the side on a long rope, tried to put a sail up in the rigging, but none of it did much good, we still floated around like a cork. We dropped our 750 Lb. Anchor down with 600 feet of wire rope and waited. Then the wind and the fog showed up. A privet fishing boat heard the call and said they would come out and get us if we would pay, and we agreed. This was 1986, pre GPS and the loran signals were spotty. They searched for several hours and couldn’t find us.
Now it’s getting later in the day, the weather has gotten much worse and we are drifting toward shore at about 2 knots. Finely an hour before dark with the wind and the seas up and visibility very low, CG calls and says they are sending a chopper. They said that if they might have to pull us off, they didn’t want it to be after dark so they decided to do it earlier just in case.
They start heading out, give us a call and zero in on our radio signal. Within 40 minuets we have this big old red and white chopper ready to pick us up. They lowered down an EPERB (sp), which emits a signal so they can track the whereabouts of the boat.
They tracked the boat all night and said that the boat got in the breakers before the wind changed direction and blew it back out. When we went after the boat the next day, it was pretty trashed. All I can say is thank you to those guys who saved our bacon.

[Pilar]

Can I get an Amen, brothers and sisters ...

The Coast Guard are heroes, they don't do it for the money.

I hope they are so bored during the all depth Halibut days that they get a few flatties for themselves.