Mishap in the jaws?

[Lipripper]

Leaving Wheeler today we were passed by a policeman racing south on 101. Moments later we watched a Coast Gaurd helicopter hover and appear to land out near the jaws of Nehalem Bay. As we approached Rockaway another policeman raced by heading north. Has anyone heard anything?
Fishing was great catching poor

[ 08-02-2002, 09:10 PM: Message edited by: lipripper ]

[OneLastCast]

Lipripper
Word has it, even though sketchy, is that a boat decided to fish the South side of the South Jetty. Not a nice place to be. Word is that the boat rolled, three people were thrown to the surf, all escaped.
Nothing against anyone here BUT know where you are fishing. If you are not sure, ask somebody. The locals always get a cackle about people doing something stupid (local or otherwise).
South of the South jetty is stupid.

OneLastCast

[OneLastCast]

Well I humbly apologize for any cackles. It is always easy to laugh at the other guy but I talked with the guy who rolled his boat yesterday and talk about a bad day. This guy and his crew are lucky to be alive and he more than knows it. The more I thought about it the more I realize that although maybe I wouldn't have made the same decisions, any screw ups may cause dire consequences in that situation. And the potential is alway right there.

The gentleman was from Idaho, fishing with his wife and brother in law. They started at buoy 10 with the brother in laws boat that ended up having transmission problems which resulted in them being towed in by the Coast Guard.
They decided to take their other boat down to Nehalem and try to get out to the ocean. They were crossing the bar when they saw some waves breaking at the whistler. They thought the whistler buoy was marking a hazard so they veered to the South. At that time a large set of swells came in. They tried to turn the boat to outrun them and almost made it when the wave became so steep that their bow dug into the water. The boat started rolling over and over. The brother in law was thrown clear, while the skipper and his wife stayed inside the boat. The canvas top and windshield were sheared off and the skipper was stuffed up under the dash. He said the hardest part was trying to figure out where he was. He didn't know up from down. When he finally extricated himself from under the dash he found an air pocket and realized the boat was upside down. He remembers looking for his wife but doesn't remember how he got out from under the boat. He ended up climbing up onto the overturned boat, holding his brother in law with one hand and his wife with the other. He said it took about 45 minutes to drift into shore while they were getting washed off the boat with each wave. He says he has never felt so cold.
Nobody was wearing life jackets.
He did say that it was a hell of a start for a vacation and that he was heading back to Idaho where there are no swells.

Everyone be carefull.

OneLastCast

[24 on/ 48 off]

Crossing a bar without PFD's. Sheesh.

--spud-- :smile:

[Pilar]

Wow, that story gave me chills.

Keep your eye on those folks, they were spared because there is something important for them to do in this life.