Sea Stories to share ?

[RODACTION]

Any of you Salty Dogs have and sea stories to share ?

Hair raising, strange, weird, findings, close calls, funny, bad, good ?

I really do not have much.

Coming in years ago, in big sea's with a lot of wind chop running NE back to Yaquina we picked up a commercial rope and buoy around the port drive. I put the engines in neutral, the boat was rocking , waves pushing us, We managed to cut the rope, pull both ends and free it from the out drive. We tied both ends together and set the line free. I could have been a real mess, but turned out okay.

Thats my lame story

Then a few big waves that came at the wrong time, for not keeping a real good look out, a whale surfacing and blowing its hole 2 yards from the boat and cause me to ---- my pants thats about it...oh and lost in the fog at 19 years of age....

Ken

[goodkarma]

about 10 years ago the ocean was very rough and I knew I wasn't going out, but my wife was asleep so I went down to the south jetty in Newport just to watch the waves. I was looking out at the ocean and notice a small boat returning towards the bay but clearly they were taking a beating. After watching a bit, it became obvious they were on the wrong side of the jetty, they were south of the south jetty and going to miss the bar. Evidently they figured it out too and tried to correct, but a large set of waves hit them, the first one knocking them sideways and the second one completely flipped over the boat. I was freaking out but I stood my ground and finally saw what looked like people surface. Looked like maybe they were holding onto a cooler or something. I called 911 immediately and the coast guard was on the spot. I remained on the jetty pointing at the people in the water. Once I saw the coast guard on top of them I ran to the beach where the coasty's had a rescue vehicle. There was debris washing ashore and I picked up an old compass which I still have in my office.
They told me that it was a 14' wooden boat with 2 adults and a 10 year old kid, none of which were wearing life jackets. They actually fished the mother out of the breaking waves by seeing her hair spread out on the water surface. They were all saved.....barely. I kept the compass as a reminder not to be stupid on the ocean.

[Anthony1013]

WOW! Now that is an amazing story!

Originally Posted by goodkarma

about 10 years ago the ocean was very rough and I knew I wasn't going out, but my wife was asleep so I went down to the south jetty in Newport just to watch the waves. I was looking out at the ocean and notice a small boat returning towards the bay but clearly they were taking a beating. After watching a bit, it became obvious they were on the wrong side of the jetty, they were south of the south jetty and going to miss the bar. Evidently they figured it out too and tried to correct, but a large set of waves hit them, the first one knocking them sideways and the second one completely flipped over the boat. I was freaking out but I stood my ground and finally saw what looked like people surface. Looked like maybe they were holding onto a cooler or something. I called 911 immediately and the coast guard was on the spot. I remained on the jetty pointing at the people in the water. Once I saw the coast guard on top of them I ran to the beach where the coasty's had a rescue vehicle. There was debris washing ashore and I picked up an old compass which I still have in my office.
They told me that it was a 14' wooden boat with 2 adults and a 10 year old kid, none of which were wearing life jackets. They actually fished the mother out of the breaking waves by seeing her hair spread out on the water surface. They were all saved.....barely. I kept the compass as a reminder not to be stupid on the ocean.

[Irish Pennant]

The worst for me:
Navy days,
It was December and we were in Getmo doing some training, the weather was a constant 80 degrees. Everything was nice. During down time we would catch lobsters and fish, spear fish and work on our tans. Then we left port to go to Halifax as part of a NATO exercise. When we got off the coast of Virginia the seas started to get rough, the further north we went the rougher it got. We had waves breaking over the bow and spray hitting the bridge which was 6 stories up. We couldn't make any headway for 2 days. We took some roles that were just under 30 degrees. 2/3's of the crew was too sick to do anything. A few times a day we would get in battle dress and go into the birthing compartments with fire hose's to wash away the puke. The ship is rocking back and forth, the puke and salt water from the fire hose is sloshing back and forth, moaning and groaning of all the greenies. It makes me shutter to just think about it. We had a 1st class Petty Officer that slept in the top bunk because puke flowed down hill and he felt the top bunk was the best. During one of the hard roles he fell out of his bunk and broke his ankle, as we were helping him to get to sick bay we dropped him and broke his collar bone. The hot water tanks and the cold water tanks were on the opposite sides of the ship and when you tried to shower, because of the ships rocking back and forth you would have hissing steam coming out of the shower head then ice cold water. When the storm let up enough that we were able to make head way we continued to Halifax. About 6 hours before port it started to snow and freeze, by the time we hit port we had icicles hanging all over the place, our coffee would freeze within minutes and some of the hatches had frozen shut. We broke out bags of salt and threw it every where. By the time we made it back to our home port of Norfolk Va the ship looked like a refugee rust bucket.

[Tinman]

Back in college days, my buddy and I were fishing our home waters off Laguna Beach in a 12 foot aluminum rowboat that we stored on the beach and surf-launched several times a week. These were our home waters and we knew them intimately.

It was a foggy day, and we were fishing the boiling reefs inshore for calico bass. We heard a large powerboat motoring through the fog, then a loud thump, and then silence as the engine died. We knew that a boat had just hit one of the reefs.

We rowed out to where the reef was, and sure enough, a 30 footer was adrift near the rocks with a dead engine. Being 20 years old and full of testosterone, we decided to tow the big boat into deeper water. They skipper of the big boat didn't believe we could do it, but he finally passed us a line and we rowed mightily, finally moving the boat a couple of hundred feet to deep water. The skipper dropped anchor and called the Coast Guard. We rowed away and kept fishing.

Lest you think this a tall tale, it was a flat calm day, and it took very little actual pulling power to move the big boat. Me and my buddy felt pretty good about it though.

[Threemuch]

I will share a couple. First one, we dubbed the tuna trip from hell. 4 of us boarded my friends 1972 21' whaler outrage and headed out for some Albacore out of half moon bay. The fleet was down to pretty much us, due to stead 20kt winds. We were thinking the guide the night before, but quickly changed that to the 601 spot based upon the overall cruddyness of the weather.

By the time we hit blue water, the weather had deteriorated, and we were in 30-35kts of wind and a steady 6x6 chop. We figured we might as well put the gear in. We could only run two lines, and we landed 6 fish in about 20 minutes. 6x6 had become 8x8 and was moving towards 10x10 or worse. It was oversquare. We were getting our butts kicked trying to buck up to Halfmoon bay. Gear and fish were bouncing around and getting destroyed all over the deck, but nobody dared to stand up to try to secure anything for fear of being washed off the bananna boat.

For 4 hours we slogged our way back. At one point, the bildge pump stopped. Lloyd opened the hatch and was working on the connection, I held his belt and a rail to keep him on board. At one point, I looked down at him, and there were two feet of water in between me and him. Bilge working, we fought our way in. After 6 hours, we made the harbor.

Fortunately I missed the tuna trip from hell II, which inolved the same boat, a climb up a rescue net into a cutter, and a long tow back to port in similar conditions.

I think the rule of thumb is that marginal conditions can become dangerous in a very, very short amount of time.

The second story was when my buddy Donovan and I were in his 26' sea swirl striper at Bodega Bay. We were setting crab gear for an annual party we used to throw in the first week of November we called Crabalone (Crab+abalone).

The idea was to soak the gear for a week, and have plenty of crab for our guests. We were out there setting gear, and I noticed his bilge pump running for a long time. We weren't taking on much water from spray, and the deck is self bailing so I alerted Donovan and we opened the engine cover to see 2' of water, up to the deck, and halfway up the motor. It was pouring in through a busted thru hull for the washdown. I thought fast and dutch and quickly shoved my thumb in it, and we ran in. We drained the boat, I doctored a wine corc with some duct tape and we plugged the leak! Back out to set the gear.

A third was when I went with my friend Bruce on his 8 knot 42' Sea Chief trawler. We went from SF Bay to the Channel Islands 10 days at sea, fishing and diving for lobster. It was awesome. We caught so many tuna on the way down, we pulled the gear. When we got to the islands, we dragged gear for every move from lobster spot to lobster spot.

Bruce would drag a cedar plug, but he would always forget to reel it in before stopping, so it was invariably wrapped in the running gear, on the shaft or rudder. Fortunately for him, I was going freediving, so it was easy to get off.

One time, he did this, and as I unwound it, I could feel a fish on the other end of the line. I went up and said "Pick up all the slack, you have got something!" He did, and when I freed it, he was hooked up. I watched the whole fight in 70' vis. It was awesome. And I think Bruce is the only guy I know who has landed a 35# halibut on a cedar plug.

Later in the trip, we anchored overnight on the south side of Santa Cruz. I set the stern anchors freediving, which Bruce thought would show them blowboaters how cool he was. When we awoke the next morning, we had trouble. The boat was low and listing. Bruce headed into the bilge. We are sinking! Apparently we had ruptured the exhaust line under the aft cabin, and then someone had ruptured the black water line after plugging the toilet. The bilge pump and strainer was plugged with toilet paper and worse and we had "borrowed" the backup bilge to keep our live bait tank circulating when that pump had died.

We quickly impressed the backup pump into service, cleaned and rebuild the main diaphragm bildge pump and strainer (yech), and dewatered the boat. Disaster averted. Yikes.

[greenbuttskunk]

I'll share one.
This was about 16 years ago. Upstate NY on lake ontario. For those who have not been boating on the great lakes, let's just say the can be as ore more dangerous than the ocean IMO.
A buddy and I were out in my 18CC that I kept up there, doing a day of salmon and steelhead fishing. Weather reports were for good conditions. We were out about 3 miles
when all of a sudden there is this huge burst of wind, like a giant has just blown hard onto a mud puddle. Never saw anything like it!
then we had some wind chop build almost instantly. We pulled our gear to head back in. It got worse by the minute.
About 1000 yards from from the jetty and harbor, we begin to encounter the most violent "bath tub" waves we had ever seen. there was no way to time them or prepare for the correct moves. they had a mind of their own. My buddy is freaking out. We had one hit us broadside and tip the boat on it's side, nearly vertically. I was knock off my seat and into the downhill gunwale, cracking a rib. my panicked buddy, all 240lb of him, landed on me. I remember looking down at green water touching the top edge of the gunwale. Scared the hell out of me. I got back up and grabbed the wheel just in time to prepare and turn bow into the next one, this one came over the bow, depositing many gallons of water. I knew if I could just get inside the jetties, the waves would subside some. I gave it some gas and got airborn off the next set. WHAM! I thought the boat would split in two. I wanted to call the CG, but had no chance of "multitasking". After a continued pounding that seemed to last forever, we finally made it in. As we passed the jetty I managed to suck some floating plastic bag into in lower unit. Not good.
We had so much more respect for that big lake after that!

[Wolf EEL]

Have endless sea stories, love to read other peoples stories, so here goes. I think it was late 70s I was a commerical fisherman working on a 40 ft double ender. Well the feds finnally opened the ocean salmon fishing from cape blanco south, hadnt been open for a few years, so of course we were going to be there with the reports we got from our friends that had been threw the area and the large amount of salmon that were there. Well I dont remember if we anchored or drifted but we woke up and dropped our lines in. It was in july I think but cape blanco if u turn that point and go south it might be a long time before the weather will let u come back north. It sticks out fearthest and all the currents come together there and wind always is blowing. Well we had a 3 day season to fish. Fishing was good pulling fish constantly. Headed south took the inside passage on the rouge reef, so busy with fish looked up to see a huge ball of rope on surface of ocean, later learned it was school mate that had sunk his boat coming back from black cod fishing. I saw it coming and tried to save the deep line and almost had the cannon ball to top before snap, and the watched the two float lines get wiped out. So here we were in the middle of the greastest salmon bite in the history of salmon bites with half our gear gone. Retied gear headed toward brookings. The school of fish was mind boggeling, it was like 15 miles long and a mile wide, so it seamed. All we had time for was to run the deeps, they were full, with coho on top and kings on the bottom. It didnt matter, as soon as u dropped the deep back down it was full on every spread. Didnt have to be a rocket scientist because the fish were on a feeding frenzy, any that was in the water was going to be eatten. I remember that I had just finished pulling the deep and was at the last spread and I seen the cannon ball getting jerked around, and had just got a nice 30lber, well got another 30lber when some other boat had lost it and the snap got our seven strand, what are the odds to hook up the fish. This went on for 3 days straight, the fish kept comming even after dark. Needless to say there wasnt much time to sleep, cleaning fish icing fish, tying new gear. Basically it was reeling fish for 3 days non stop as fast as u could. I think it was the 3rd day about 4oclock and the winds and seas were growing and bam turn off the lights the party is over, the bite is over. You couldnt catch another fish. Any one who has fished hopefully has experienced those moments in time when fish are in a feeding frenzy. Then any body can catch em. I think it was like over a 1000 fish for those 3 days.

[Wolf EEL]

Ok another story, late 1970s we were trolling for salmon out of coos bay. We fished where the salmon were. my skipper was very smart and an electrical genious. We had am radiios that we could talk to boats 1000 miles away. We got a good enough report we would run to try to catch a feeding frenzy, because thats how you could make some serious money. My skipper would give his buddys our own secret crystal so no one could listen in to our conversations. You see fishing is a very secret especially when u are doing it for a living. Even when u try to keep it a secret u all know the grape vine. Good fishing spreads like wildfire. Ok so we were like 15 miles sw of coos bay with the salmon fleet. Cant recall everything but everyone was catching lots of fish, instead of catching enough to pay for gas and food. We were highliners we went after the kings. Ok on with the story. It was the 4th of july, ocean flatter then a pancake. Its such a beautiful expericence when the ocean is flat. It seems every fish in the ocean decides to come and take alook at the other world that we live in. We fished 2 days of killer fishing, only problem was the fog was so thick you couldnt see 50 feet. Oh ya radar in this situation was your worst nightmare. You are totally surrounded. Its like pirates out of the fog, hard aport,hard starboard. Danger will roberson danger, could have used that robot. After 2 days of flat oceans, and killer fishing, forecast was great. Plugging boats dreaming of tomorrow, sorry for spelling, went to bed. Gental swell kept increasing all night long. The winds on the ocean especially at night have there own message, its like I AM MOTHER NATURE WHAT THE HECK ARE DOING OUT HERE. Its just around midnight the ocean has turned up side down the winds are blowing gale, probably more. Half asleep hard to sleep when the wind is howling and the waves are smashing into the side of the boat. What the heck bam kaboom, what is happening, jumped up, came up on deck to see what was happening. Son of a gun we had just drifted into another troller. We had locked poles and we both lost the tug of war. Both our poles were broken we we tangeled and lines were popping and busting, like fishing right off bottom in the pinacles,which you had to do make money. Well anyways the ocean was a washing machine, nasty. Anyone with half a brain decided that the ocean wasnt a place to be. So the fleet decided to go in. We all got to coos bay at day light wilkl a massive bull ebb. Look at the date full moon,WELL at daylight the fleet was hovering deciding to go over over the bar or ride it out . No brainer the ocean was way to rough and getting worst. Well we decided to cross the bar with a huge ebb running. Our boat rolled over so far I thought that it wouldnt come back up but it did.

[Bloom]

I've been lucky so far since taking my boat out, but I did have some experiences during my Navydaze. I was on my first Med cruise back in 1960 aboard the U.S.S.Saratoga (flat-top). I was with a heavy attack squadron out of Sanford, Fla. My job at that time was to remove the struts from the folding wings and stab on our birds as they were being readied for the cat-shot.
It was during one nighttime operation, pitch black and I was atop one of our birds, removing the struts, all hooked up on the catapult and I could feel the engines winding up. The wings and stab were locked and the guy on deck with the wands was giving the signal to the pilot to go to full power. I ran forward to find the hatch closed so I jumped up and thrust one of the struts into the hatch, getting the attention of the pilot who shut the engines down.I didn't like the idea of flying through the air dangling from a nylon strap behind a jet.

Later into the cruise, we had a fire in the engine room, ship went to GQ and everyone's going to their stations. Smoke was coming into many of the living quarters and we're scrambling to get the planes and ordinance squared away, not knowing how extensive the fire was. The fire was extinguished, but we lost seven men that day, including our XO and Chaplain.
We had other mishaps during that seven month cruise, losing a few planes and crew and this was during peacetime.Thirty four sailors didn't come home from that cruise.

I used to stand in the catwalk during my off hours and was amazed at the well choreographed operation of the flight deck from launch prep, launch, recovery and storage of those birds. It's amazing that 5,000 men on a boat can work so well to make it all happen.

[USCGBoating]

I like Sea stories. I have a bunch but there are a few that really stick out. It was November 1991 aboard USCGC Seneca off Georges Bank. We searched for a missing lobster boat for 7 days in 40 foot seas and 70 MPH winds. It was snowing and temperature was about 20F. Of a crew of 96 there was only about 18 if us that could function and stand watch. We were only able to do about 5 knots so we were taking some pretty huge rolls, up to 40 to 45 degrees at times. I had to stick all my boots and shoes under my mattress to prop up the outside edge so I would not roll out of the rack. We only found pieces of the boat and later learned that the owner of the lobster boat had planted a bomb on the boat to collect insurance money and was arrested for 4 counts of first degree murder.

There are a few Cape Blanco stories here so I’ll share one of mine. It was 1979 and we were sent down to tow the 96ft dragger Pegasus who had a net in the wheel. It was blowing 40 and the seas were about 20 ft. We were on the Intrepid, the 52 ft MLB.

Cape Blanco is about one of the worst pieces of water in the world because currents converge there and the sea conditions are twice as bad as anywhere else in the area. Luckily on the way down we had a following sea but after we hooked up the tow it was no fun what so ever. We got pounded. After about the first five hours we parted the tow line and had to pull it all back in and then do it all again. The conditions had gotten worse and now our decks were totally awash and we had to crawl and clip in with the safety belts every where we went on deck. I ended up down in the line locker, a space below deck about 6 x 10 and four feet high. Having to sit in there and spool the 900 feet of line back on the reel and then when we went to hook back up you have to sit there and pay it back off. This happened two more times throughout the night. The last time they felt pity for me and let me work up on deck and handle line. I was moving from the pilot hose to the aft deck when we took a big sea break broadside. I was not fully clipped in and ended up half over the side clinging to the lifeline and held in place by one strap of my safety Belt. We had always been trained that if you had to unclip do it one at a time and move across deck so you always are supported by one hook. I think that save my life.

With all the extra work we ended up making a knot and a half backward. At daylight we were a bit south of Port Orford so we ended up doing in and having divers come and cut the net out. The trip back to Coos Bay was brutal as we were heading into it for about 6 hours and spent about a third of the time airborne. I will never forget it.

Dan

[infinity22]

i wasn't on the boat but almost 40 years ago my dad and his brother purchased there first "used" dory. most modern day dories are fiberglass over wood. there's wasn't fiberglassed so it wasn't watertight to say the least. they fished it for a few years constantly patching the bottom of the boat. one weekend during the sumer of 76 they launched off the beach to the hot bite off cascade head fishing for silvers. after trolling for a couple of hours my dad noticed the floorboards in front of the fishbox starting to float. my uncle told my dad to pull the plugs and he would try to get the boat up on plane to drain the water. the old johnson didn't have enough power to do so. upon pulling the floorboards my dad noticed the bottom had split open, it was a hairline crack but the water was pouring in. they were fishing in 70 fathoms off cascade head and knowing they couldn't make it back to the beach they decided to beach it in neskowin. by the time they got to just outside the surf the back end of the boat was going under. they made it in just barely. that was the final voyage in that boat and they decided to retire it that weekend with a nice bonfire. they ordered the new boat a week later from p.c. boat works and aptly named it the "Hunk a Junk". i'm sure some of you "oldtimers" in p.c. remember the boat.

[retaliate]

Wow! some good stories here, My scariest was a Bar crossing comming back across the Columbia Bar in a 19' Trophy one summer back in the early 90's, myself & a friend Ron went out from Hammond, dropped the Crab pots off on the South side, & headed out for some Salmon fishing, the Bouy 2 area was a little slow, but we finally got our 4 fish by about 3pm, & decided to fish for Lingcod, & Rockfish off the S Jetty, cause it was a nice day, light winds, sunshine, & a easy 5 1/2' outgoing tidal change...at least I thought it would be easy, Jetty fishing was good so we stayed a little longer than we should have, when we started in about 7ish, the wind had picked up, altho it wasn't bad on the South side of the Jetty inside a couple miles where we were fishing, but when we rounded the corner to approach the entrance we were greeted with 10' to 12' swells, with some breaking around us, & 20kt winds out of the North, one other Boat was in front of us, a 25' Glass boat, that for some dumb reason was hugging the South side & pounding hard into the breaking Swells, we powered in at an angle twards Ilwaco, having to Throttle hard around some of the Breakers, it was serious white knuckle driving, crossing the Bar that day, about half way in thru the rough stuff, the other Boat saw us having better success than they were having, & angled over & followed us in from there, Gradualy we made it to some calmer waters, where we could relax a little, the other Boat caught up to us, & thanked us just for being there, as no other Boats were around at the time, by the time we got to our Crab Traps it was fairly calm, got over a dozen Crab for our efforts, & came in just like any other day on the Ocean, but whew! Boy! don't ever want to try that again.

[Wolf EEL]

It was 2 years ago I was crabbing out of hammond with 4 other people aboard in my 19 foot bayliner. Weather wasnt the best with rain and southern winds crabbing near bouy 22. We were doing allright using my kicker motor to crab with when I missed a pot and gunned the kicker to turn back and get the pot. What the hell just happened, knew something was wrong, my kicker bracket had just punched a hole in my stern, thru this hole water was streaming in fast. There was only 2 other boats in the area about a half mile from us. I started shouting orders telling my buddys to get that some of a gun kicker motor off the bracket, didnt really care if it was deep sixed, anything to slow the onslot of water that was pooring in. Told them to grab extra bilge pump and stick in in the bilge to help get the water out. Had them grab the flare gun, radio and cell phone to call for help. Taking off the kicker motor closed the hole some and we were kind of keeping up with the water coming in. I knew if I started the main motor and got going the hole would be above the water line. I started the big motor twice and tried to go before in was warm and it died twice. Well you know what they say the third times the charm. Just about to call the cg and shoot my flares when the motor started a 3rd time and put it into gear. It didnt die this time, yelled at everyone hang on I am putting the pedal to the metal. My boat has a 5.1 liter volva penta, it will go 50+ it halls ????. It passed with flying colors, what a ride into hammond. Got to the dock and another boat went out and got our crab pots for us, ended up with 40 crabs for the day and 1500 dollars later got the hole fixed. Just another adventure in the endless adventures when you go boating. Just glad I wasnt born a cat, they only have 9 lives, I have used them up many years ago.

[Pilar]

Here's a link to another thread a couple of years old. I don't mean to hijack yours but there's a story or two here.

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthrea...ghlight=CR+bar

[BigWaterBigFish]

My father's story :

Those Who Would Not and The "Sandbar" and "Outlaw" Who Did:

Place: Tillamook Bubble
Date: Thursday, Sept 20, 2001
Time: Approx 9:20 AM

While trolling in a southerly direction for chinook at the outer edge of a large fishing flotilla approximately 70 yards from the south jetty wall, my buddy and I were hit by a sneaker wave. It came silently from nowhere, unexpectedly.
I felt my left arm rise behind and above my left shoulder as the kicker motor was ripped off the transom and out of my hand. A large volume of water with tremendous force had hit me in the back as I was partially standing and leaning against the large outboard motor.. The Boston Whaler was standing on it's bow as I was flying over the seat. I just knew I was going to go right over the center console and into the trough, 15 feet below.
I can't explain it better. It's like I blacked out for a few moments, but I found myself between the seat and the center console. My buddy was trying to pull the kicker into the boat by the safety rope attached to it.
The Boston Whaler with 3/4 of it's length under water on the starboard side upon hitting the bottom of the trough bounced out of it right side u p, just like a surfboard. The large motor would not start. Like cows headed for the milk barn, large waves followed that inital sneaker. We were in trouble, and being pushed towards the breaking surf.
The large flotilla appeared to be only a few yards from us. I could see the expression on the guide's face. I called for help. No one moved. I looked right into the guide's eyes and begged, but to no avail.
With the surf getting closer, I heard a voice to the south and ahead of the flotilla, "I'll come and get you!". That's what Casey yelled as he pulled in the three lines he had out. The "Sandbar" pulled us into safe waters near the jetty wall. I thanked Casey and asked to be released as I thought I had started the large motor.
And there we sat, approaching the jetty wall powerless. The large motor would not stay running. Then I saw a line being thrown from the "Outlaw". He pulled us towards the bar until the Coast Guard arrived and pulled us into the Tillamook Bay.
No, it's not over. The next week, while fishing in the same general area, the "Sandbar" pulled up next to us and told us he had hooked and retrieved the fishing rod and reel my buddy had lost when hit by the sneaker wave. Not only had Casey came to our rescue when other wouldn't, he had recovered the only piece of equipment we had lost overboard when the wave had hit us. My buddy drove to Tillamook later and picked up his gear. Casey wouldn't take any compensation.
Ifish.net, thank you for providing the opportunity for my buddy and I to publicly thank the "Sandbar" and the "Outlaw" for their generosity and bravery. They are two of Tillamook's finest. The two who did while the others could only watch.
Cajun
__________________

[fishkisser]

Wow some real hairy experiences here...... I've had quite a few but the one that comes to mind was bottom fishing out of Shelter Cove , Ca. in a 16ft rental skiff ... The conditions where perfect to run south to " the hat " a sea mount with great bottomfishing ... After a few hours of yanking them in and dodging a pod of blue whales we headed back to the barn ... While underway as fast as the 15 hp outboard would push Steve and I we were hit broadside by a sneaker swell...It heeled the little skiff over so fast it would make your head swim, we started taking water over the starboard gunnel and I figured well here we go ... I instinctively threw myself to the port side of the boat , and to this day i can't figure how he did it . But Steve turned the skiff on the face of that swell and went right up the face of it almost perpendicular ... I bailed out most of the water and we were headed back , but you can bet we set four weather eyes on any other oddball swells on the way back ... Whew... It gets my adrenaline pumping just typing about it ...Barney

[djchaser]

About a hundred years ago -or so it feels- I worked on The Daily Double running out of San Diego Bay runnind half day fishing trips at the kelp beds in that area. I finnaly had worked long enough to be the only deckhand on my first trip. We had been out for a few hours when the wind picked up and it picked up Fast! The customers started getting nervous when they could no longer stand up on deck so we headed in.Getting back into the bay wasnt the problem,the problem was there was a very strong wind blowing us away from our dock directly at the Red Rooster II (about 6 million in recent work done to it) we had 2 and 3 foot wind waves hitting us from the side as we would turn and try to back in.None of the customers knew what to do so I was alone trying to get the "spring line" onto the boat. After about 6 or 7 failed attempts we had a large crowd gathered at the dock. The Roosters crew hung every bouy the could off the side of there boat and one guy ran down and grabbed there anchor line to toss to me. WE got there rope secured to our boat and tried coming back again but the winds just kept getting stronger and at the last second the captain had to call it off and gunned the motor. Some of the poor guys holding onto the rope didnt let go and got drug down the nonskid dock (ouch) but were able to get the last cleat on the dock and slowly pull us over to them. The captain and the large crowd got us safely to the dock without hitting any other boats and we all celibrated by bandaging up a couple guys and emptying our beer coolers on the deck to celibrate being in one piece. 3 months later 2 of our rescuers we lost on a fishing trip in Mexico we there boat flipped in the middle of the night when hit with a freak wave out of nowere.

[CGRFish]

I'll add a couple, both of which happened on puker trips that shouldn't have left the dock.

When I was a kid, dad would often arrange to take all his foremen out on a charter trip for salmon, and if there was an extra seat, I was quick to fill it. Many years ago, probably 35, we went out of newport on the Sea Pirate, and the skipper was the true picture of the salty dog of the sea. On arriving at the charters, they said conditions were marginal, but we would be going anyway. Out we went through the slop to an unfishable ocean - the only thing I remember caught was a sea gull that was flying down the trough and tangled in one of the diver lines.... It was wet and cold, and I was sitting in the wheel house watching the skipper. He decides it's time to head in, and calls the coast guard for bar information, which doesnt sound good. He requests a standby from the coast guard. When we get to the bar, it has progressed from slop to breaking clear across, and there three motor lifeboats from the coast guard station standing by for our crossing. Fortunatly the skipper lived up to his appearance, and and did masterful job of surfing the sea pirate in.... quite a ride.

The other trip that stands out was a trip of various people from the santiam valley timber industry scheduled to go out of Westport for tuna. The plan was to go out all night, fish in the morning, and then come back in later in the day. The catch, however, was that we caught the first storm of the fall coming though, and it was a miserable trip. This was a "fancy" trip, where they fed us prime rib and corn on the cob, had an open bar, etc, but it quickly turned into corn on the deck and alot of drunk, sick loggers. It was the only time I remember everyone on a boat becoming sick to some extent, including both the skipper and the bait boy... It was ugly, and not a fish was caught - as I remember, we hardly even tried to fish....

Two or three parts of the trip stand out worth noting, however. Dad was not drinking, because I was along (I think I was about 14), and went to try to get some sleep. He ended up on the forepeak bunk, and actually dozed off. I couldn't sleep, and I got up and went to talk to the skipper. The boat had just been bouncing and taking a beating, and the skipper had been on the radio, and was told there was calmer waters another few miles out, and he said he had to get the boat up and going through the waves instead of just boundcing. I went back below to tell dad what the skipper had found out, and just as I open the cabin door and say "Dad", the skipper pours the coal to the engine, and we drop over a swell. Dad wakes up to find himself airborne, and me calling him, and he thinks the boat is in trouble - he made the fastest entry ever from a bunk.

The really funny story, however, had to do with a gentleman named Tom on the trip. Tom owned a lumber company near Lyons, and obviously hadn't spent much time on the ocean. I swear he was sick from the time he looked at the boat. Dad and I had both been sick, emptied our stomach's, and were nursing some seven up to feel better. Tom comes out of the cabin to run to the rail, but it was lined with people, so he heads for the other rail, but it to is full, so he heads to the stern. As he gets to the stern we take a wave over the tail, drenching him from head to toe.... The poor guy steps back several steps, but now the boat drops and the live bait well splashes on him from behind.... Tom has by this time forgot he was sick, and starts back for the cabin. Dad and I are just about dying laughing, and dad says "Hey Tom, you want to know what will make you feel better?", and Tom is quick for any help and walks over. Dad pulls out a can of copenhagen, opens it up, and offers him some - The poor guy screams OH *X*X!, and heads back to the rail. I'll never forget the look on that poor guys face!

[Irish Pennant]

Another one from the Navy daze

We moored the ship in Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon has a very large tide swing, I don't remember the amount but its somewhere around 16 ft+. I had duty and had to stay onboard the ship and sometime during the evening the tide had changed and twisted the A-com ladder into a pretzel. The A-com ladder is the normal way of getting on and off the ship. We had 2-3 hundred sailors wanting to get back on board. One of my duties was that of being the coxswain for the small boats. Through out the night we would lower the motor whale boat down to the level of the peir and take 4 people on and then raise the boat back up to the ship and swing it in, off load the people and then do it again. Navy regs stated something along the lines that a Motor Whale Boat had to have a qualified Coxswain, Engineer, Bow Hook (crewman), and a Boat Officer. Plus all persons had to put on a life jacket. So here we are, the ship is tied to the pier, a fully manned Motor Whale Boat is being lowered down to the pier, sailors are coming back from a night on the town and are being made to put on life jackets and are then lifted back up to the ship. 4 at a time. We have duty personnel on the pier directing the line, shore patrol keeping order, a 4 man team manning the davit on board the ship and more duty personnel on board to help the drunken sailors out of the Motor Whale Boat.

[Pilar]

That sounds so much like the Navy I remember that it has to be true. So your tale is not really a sea story. Those start out with

"This ain't no ...." And are not necessarily true.

Originally Posted by Irish Pennant

Another one from the Navy daze

We moored the ship in Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon has a very large tide swing, I don't remember the amount but its somewhere around 16 ft+. I had duty and had to stay onboard the ship and sometime during the evening the tide had changed and twisted the A-com ladder into a pretzel. The A-com ladder is the normal way of getting on and off the ship. We had 2-3 hundred sailors wanting to get back on board. One of my duties was that of being the coxswain for the small boats. Through out the night we would lower the motor whale boat down to the level of the peir and take 4 people on and then raise the boat back up to the ship and swing it in, off load the people and then do it again. Navy regs stated something along the lines that a Motor Whale Boat had to have a qualified Coxswain, Engineer, Bow Hook (crewman), and a Boat Officer. Plus all persons had to put on a life jacket. So here we are, the ship is tied to the pier, a fully manned Motor Whale Boat is being lowered down to the pier, sailors are coming back from a night on the town and are being made to put on life jackets and are then lifted back up to the ship. 4 at a time. We have duty personnel on the pier directing the line, shore patrol keeping order, a 4 man team manning the davit on board the ship and more duty personnel on board to help the drunken sailors out of the Motor Whale Boat.

[Herring Problem]

1992/93 Newport Oregon on Memorial Week-end. Salmon fishing out at the pile off of Alsea bay. Coast Guard -9:am broadcast all boats under 26ft should return to harbor-NW storm with 50knt wind, waves expected to reach 25 plus at 12 sec or less. Now being in a 22 ft boat this is not good news.

Had my best friend in his 19ft Fiberform as my buddy boat. I had my daughter and her girlfriend and myself on my boat, my friend and his son on his boat.

At 9:15AM we started in after battening down all the rods and stuff on board. At 11:30AM the first waves coming in were 15 ft plus and breaking, the wind picked up to 20knts and was climbing. We made good headway for some time, then the uphill battle started.

17miles down from the Newport Jetty and 16 miles out is no place for small boats today.

While conversing the waves and fighting the winds, I caught a
wave broadside and the water with the wind caught my daughter and knocked her from the port side across the motor box to the starboard side in a split second. Luckily she didn't go overboard. Scarred this ole boy good. For the first time in my life and all the years out on Blue, I thought this was gonna be the end. We fought waves and wind all the way to the whistler off of Newport arriving at around 6 oclock.

As we came upon the bouy,I called the Coast Guard and reported our situation and conditions and asked for assistance to crosss the bar.The boys came out to the end of the jetty and waited for us to cross and escorted back to Sawyer's landing.

The next morning we loaded up and headed out to the end of the jetty to check the conditions, while going under the Bridge my boat came to a sudden stop with no power to the drive. After being towed back to Sawyers landing and hauling the boat out, we pulled the outdrive to find the coupler and drive shaft had spun itself completley out. No splines at all. Why this didn't spin on big blue the day before always reminds me, "We have angles looking out for us all the time."

This short story- The Ursula 11 my fathers commercial boat ran aground off of Gold Beach at 2 am , my dad and mom spent 14 hours hugging the rocks at the base of Gold beach Mountain waiting for the CG to come and help. Boat was a total loss, but my folks lived to tell there tell. 49 years of commercial fishing and living their dream.

Third- 1962, My Uncle heading out of Newport to go salmon fishing for the week on his commercial 45ft'r in the fog. Decided to turn around after crossing the bar. Made a turn to wide and came back in along the wrong side of the North Jetty. The surf took him and his german shepard that day.

No matter how much time,How much training we get, when your time is up on Blue, I believe the Sea will call us home.

Be Safe and be True. Big Blue watches all!

[tracker]

DJ? Was the flipped boat near Cedros?

[croation2]

The baddest scarriest I have ever heard was from a buddy of mine that has passed away now (Chubbs Martin). He was one of the survivors on the S.S. Indiana. It would be a dishonor to try to tel the story without being there. If anybody has first hand knowledge of that one, they should start a new thread.

[retaliate]

Another almost Sea story was in the Columbia rv, fishing for Sturgeon around Astoria from a 17' tri hull Bass type boat, Myself, Zeke, & my Brother Vic launched from Warrenton one spring morning in the late 90's & fished the Washington side west of the Astoria/meagler br, fishing was just ok, I think we got 2 keepers, anyway on the way back in there was 6' rollers about 3 sec. apart on the Oregon side, we scooped a bow full, & with the bottom part of the walkthru windshield open(didnt have the canvas cover on), water started to fill the boat, the auto Bildge pump came on, & I turned on the Manual Pump as well, still we kept scooping more water, & there was about 6" to 8" of Water now on the floor, luckily we had 2 square buckets on board, & I looked at my Brother, & said "well you gonna sit there, or are you gonna grab a bucket, & start bailing" without another word spoken both Vic, & Zeke grabbed a bucket & started bailing, it worked, It's amazing how much water can be bailed out with 2 highly movited men, with Square bucket's in hand, seemed like just seconds, & we were save a certain swim, put the canvas cover on, had zeke, & Vic sit further back to keep the Bow up, & we made it back with no further problems....Whew!

[NR Ace]

Many years ago I spent all summer replacing the horn timber on an old 42' Monk design that had come out of Alaska. Got her in the water and tightened up and went out over the Yaquina bar is rougher water then I had ever been in. Threw up the whole time and got it turned around asap. On the way back to River's Bend I was counting my blessings when there was a sort of knock and clunk from the hull. Didn't take long to figure out the prop for the 671 had dropped off! Got towed in. Sold it the next month for next to nothing. A sign from God I'm sure.

[NewMoon]

Some years ago, we were on our first SE Alaska cruise in our C-Dory 22. We had worked our way north from Sitka, toward Cross Sound and Elfin Cove along the outside of Chichagof Island, and ducked inside some of the small islands just north of the Khaz peninsula via an intricate route called Piehle Passage. Went back outside maybe 15 miles further north at Imperial passage, and then turned back into protected waters at Lisianski Strait. Weather was fine, we loved that run.

Two weeks later we headed back south along the same route, anchoring for the night halfway down to Sitka. This time we had with us a guest, who had never seen waters any wilder than Lake Powell.

Next morning wind was up to maybe SW 15 knots, but it didn't look too bad. We were inexperienced interpreting barometer changes for weather prediction, and were out of weather radio range. We proceeded down through Piehle Passage, poked our nose out of the narrow opening, and found we were heading into 8-10 foot relatively gentle waves. Thought they might be just swells piling up as they came in to shallower water there, and if we crossed them to deeper water it might be OK to head SSE on the outside down toward Sitka. Turned out to be not such a fine idea.

Just outside the narrow exit into open water, we manage to get kelp wrapped around our 90hp outboard, shutting off the water flow and activating the overheat alarm. So now we’re in big waves, without power. I fire up the 9.9hp kicker (it started right away, thankfully), but then we could go only basically straight out into the waves while the big motor cooled down. So I sit out in the rain steering the kicker, watching the bow go up and down ever higher for maybe 15 minutes, while every so often Cindy tries the big motor, until finally it comes on without the alarm. By this time we're a mile or so offshore, and the waves are getting really big. I come back into the cabin, and we try to figure out what to do.

Don't want to head SSE to Sitka, because there would be 15 miles of unprotected water and the waves are already up to 15+ feet. Wind is only maybe 20 knots, but later we learned that the waves tend to pile up especially big in that area (where the bottom comes up from very deep to only 100 feet or so) when the wind comes from certain directions. After all, there’s nothing west of us until the Aleutians.

We don't want to go back into Piehle Passage, because of the kelp, and the narrow rocky entrance. We decide to go with the wind and waves, NNW 8 miles to Khaz Bay, a much wider opening. Heading that way is tricky, as over toward the shore there are big rocks just below the surface. They create huge explosions of spray when the water is moving up and down that far. On and off from the massive wave tops we can see these boomers, looming out there in the rain. The waves keep driving us closer toward them, and we decide we'll never make it on this course, so we have to bear left. The size and steepness of the waves keep us from going just a bit left, so we have to tack maybe WSW to gain sea room, then come back to our desired NNW course. After a mile or two of that we turn back NNW, eventually get to the mouth of Khaz Bay, and slide in to safe anchorage.

We had estimated the following seas at 15-25 feet. While Cindy was navigating, I had been concentrating on steering and continually adjusting the throttle, so we would climb up the back of a wave, slow down and mush through the top of it, then maintain our heading down to the next trough, not going so fast as to stick our nose into the next wave. The C-Dory was so good! We never once took green water over the bow, in maybe 1.5 or 2 hours of this (we were too busy to look at a watch - sure wish I had videotape). I would hate to try the same thing in our present much heavier deep-V boat.

At anchor later, whilst thanking our lucky stars, we were scanning the radio (still out of CG broadcast range) and listened in on two commercial fishermen who had been out in the same stuff in a 38 and a 54-footer. They clearly had not enjoyed it. We broke in, told of our adventure, and asked them how big they thought the seas had been. They said 20 to 30 feet, with an occasional 35. Thank you again, C-Dory!

Over the next three days we holed up, waiting for the seas to moderate. We tried poking outside three times, and each time came back in with our tail between our legs. We called fishermen who were on the outside for conditions reports, and finally got one that said waves were down to halfway reasonable. We asked him if he thought we’d be OK in our 22-footer, and he said yes. As we came out Imperial passage heading north, he called us back. He had been talking to his mate, and revised his opinion. “You could make it, but it sure won’t be a cake-walk.” Two hours of 10-15 footers later, with our hearts still up in our throats, we gratefully rounded the nun into the mouth of Lisianski, and began to relax. Pulled into Pelican, refueled, and found we were down to 5 gallons of gas – maybe fifteen miles worth.

Our guest has not been back to cruise SE Alaska to this day.