I was out fishing with a buddy this weekend on his boat. We went out of Westport. On Sunday AM, he, his two nephews, his sister and myself were all out for some salmon fishing. The bar crossing was relatively uneventful and we went N to fish W of the casino on shore. We were joined by a relatively large group of other boats. Fishing was slow with the occasional nice king salmon being caught. We landed three, 2 hatchery and one wild – all in the 12-15lb range.
As the morning went on we were trolling south and eventually made our way back to near the mouth of the bar. On the South side of the bar there is a jetty and the W end of the jetty is sunk about 15’ under water. That area is often a good ling cod and rock cod fishing spot, especially at slack tide. My buddy wanted to fish it. He and his two nephews had been consuming a fair bit of alcohol in the AM. I was at the helm and was the only one with a PFD on. PFD’s were available but these guys never wear them. We crossed over the sunken jetty from the N to the South. The current was running N as we were on an incoming tide following a mid morning negative tide. By now it was around 12:00-ish. Crossing the sunken jetty we were in a little confused seas but nothing too bad for a 21+ Woolrich boat.
My buddy (the boat’s owner) instructed me to go over the jetty, put it in neutral and let the boat drift back across. We did this several times. The current was pretty strong and we were drifting stern first towards the N. Each time we made the drift, I would put the boat in gear occasionally to keep us perpendicular to the main swells/waves off the stern. Each drift was too fast to fish effectively but one rockfish was caught on a drift and my buddy and his nephews wanted to keep doing this drift.
During the course of about 20-30 minutes, the seas over the jetty built as the current flowing across it built. If we were in my boat, we wouldn’t have been fishing there. I was feeling a bit nervous about the situation but was being told to do it again by the guys in the cockpit. I should have listened to my inner voice and called it off but I didn’t. I’ve often said that the combined IQ of a group of guys gets lower the more guys that are around and this is one of those cases. I didn’t have the guts to speak up and I continued to follow the directions of those who wanted to fish. That was my mistake – especially given the knowledge that a good bit of whiskey had been consumed by those three and hence I should have been able to infer that their judgment may not be at the highest.
As we drifted in for what turned out to be our final drift, it happened. A fairly large wave broke over the stern and dumped maybe 100 gallons into the cockpit. Water hit my back at the helm and even filled the trays on the dash to about ¼”. I got on the throttle and took us south at full power. The boat was very stern heavy and we could only make about 8kts. When that wave broke, it knocked all three in the cockpit down. As I applied throttle to get us out of there, the water going over the back sucked them towards the stern but I don’t think there was a very high danger of them going out at that point in time. However, I did hear some words of panic from one of the three.
Now we needed to de-water. The bilge pump was a piddly thing rated at 360 gals per hour but it probably has a 20” rise to the exit. At it’s best, it might put out 200 gals per hour. My buddy and one of his nephews started bailing, I kept the throttle on. At this point we were relatively safe, the boat was well away from the area of danger, we still had power and we and all our equipment was still in the boat. It took maybe 20+ mins to get the remaining water from the boat with a combination of bailing and bilge pump. The bilge pump clogged twice during that time and my friend had to reach into the bilge and clear the screen. I was still the only one wearing a PFD. Once we were fully de-watered, we made the trip back in over the bar without incident. I took an extra wide swing around the sunken jetty and we were happy when the boat was in the calm water of the harbor.
I did point out that I was the only one wearing a PFD and that the three in the cockpit might want to consider wearing one in the future. The youngest of the three “didn’t want a lecture” and I doubt I made any impact on him. I’m not sure about my buddy, the other nephew or the sister but I rather doubt that they will become regular PFD wearers in the future. I’ve had my buddy and one of his nephew's on my boat and on my boat, wearing a PFD is required. But it’s not something I can make happen on someone else’s boat.
On the one hand, I feel terrible for allowing myself to get into that position and for allowing myself as the guy at the helm to allow my buddy to get into that position – even if my buddy was giving the instructions. I should have known better and I should have spoke up. On the other hand, I know I did what was right immediately after the wave broke. Without that immediate action on the throttle, I’m quite confident we would have taken another wave over the stern and the boat would have turtled. I wouldn’t get off the throttle until we were well clear of the area of danger and until the boat was mostly dewatered.
Lessons learned:
1) Speak up when you’re not feeling safe on someone else’s boat. Be forceful if you must. I probably wouldn’t have needed to be very forceful to have prevented this problem. I should have simply said, “I don’t feel safe in this situation, we should fish elsewhere”. My buddy almost certainly would have responded positively to that.
2) The puny little bilge pumps put in by manufacturers are completely inadequate. My buddy’s birthday is on Friday. He’s getting a 1100 GPH bilge pump from me and I’ll help install it.
3) Check the bilge area – clean it out of fish scales and hair frequently. While the bilge pump was not very useful at full output, it became completely useless twice in this scenario. I think the second larger bilge pump will get installed an inch or two higher than the first.
4) PFD’s are a good thing but they only work if you have them on. The water where we were at was 57-58 degrees. The current was ripping pretty hard. If we took that second wave over, the three in the back would have been in the water. While the youngest one confidently expressed that he could swim to the jetty while I was “lecturing” on the value of PFD’s, I’m 100% sure that the only place any of them would have gone was wherever the current wanted to take them. Given how far that first wave came into the cockpit, I’m not confident I could have gotten off a call to the coast guard if the boat took a second wave. I would have been in the water too but with the benefit of a PFD. I probably could have gotten a PFD on the sister since there were 2 to her immediate left. I’m not sure I could have done anything for the 3 in the cockpit. I think the odds of them dying in such an event were fairly high.
5) If a wave does break over the stern, don’t delay and get on the throttle. I learned that lesson from this site and others by reading accident reports. I learned it first hand on Sunday.
6) Read accident reports and play through various scenarios in your own mind. I think that may have saved us yesterday.
7) Don’t drink while on the water. I was the only male on board who was completely sober yesterday. The sister was in good shape, the other 3 were functional but at least somewhat impaired. The adrenaline brought on by having many gallons of cold water pouring over them brought them to a high level of alertness pretty quickly. However, I believe that had they been 100% sober, they might have been less cavalier about wanting to fish the sunken jetty. In fact at one point, my buddy told his sister not to look back since it was “pretty ugly behind us”. This was before the wave broke. Good sense would have indicated this was a sign that we should drive forward rather than drifting back across for another attempt.
8) Guys – be especially cognizant of the group psychology amongst guys that often makes a group of guys far more stupid than any one guy alone. I often joke that the combined IQ of a group of guys goes as the inverse square of the number of guys present and the inverse cube if they’re trying to impress a girl. This situation was created at least partially by guys (myself included) being so focused on doing the manly fishing thing that none of us stopped to say “this is stupid”. It was stupid. There’s no other excuse. Each and every one of us was stupid. Period. However, by recognizing situations in which you are likely to be stupid, maybe you can prevent them in the future. I hope I have the guts to speak up in a similar situation in the future. I could have prevented this near death experience with a little more courage.
P.S. – after we got off the water we had lunch in Westport at a bar. My buddy had iced tea. I had my one beer for the day. I offered to drive home but he said he was fine. About 10 minutes into the trip, I asked if he was OK as he looked tired and wasn’t driving as perfect as I would expect. My gentle hint resulted in him saying we should swap and I drove the rest of the way home. If the gentle hint didn’t work, I would have been more forceful – which is exactly what I should have done earlier.
NOTE: I’m posting this to the “That’s life section” since that section is not 100% public. In the interest of not embarrassing my buddy or making him feel bad (who really is a good guy), I’d appreciate it if this were not reposted elsewhere. He and I will probably have many mini-review sessions of this incident over the coming weeks and while I am helping to install a new bilge pump. He’s a smart guy and I’m sure he’s learned a number of lessons from this. For one, I bet he never fishes the sunken jetty again except at slack.
As the morning went on we were trolling south and eventually made our way back to near the mouth of the bar. On the South side of the bar there is a jetty and the W end of the jetty is sunk about 15’ under water. That area is often a good ling cod and rock cod fishing spot, especially at slack tide. My buddy wanted to fish it. He and his two nephews had been consuming a fair bit of alcohol in the AM. I was at the helm and was the only one with a PFD on. PFD’s were available but these guys never wear them. We crossed over the sunken jetty from the N to the South. The current was running N as we were on an incoming tide following a mid morning negative tide. By now it was around 12:00-ish. Crossing the sunken jetty we were in a little confused seas but nothing too bad for a 21+ Woolrich boat.
My buddy (the boat’s owner) instructed me to go over the jetty, put it in neutral and let the boat drift back across. We did this several times. The current was pretty strong and we were drifting stern first towards the N. Each time we made the drift, I would put the boat in gear occasionally to keep us perpendicular to the main swells/waves off the stern. Each drift was too fast to fish effectively but one rockfish was caught on a drift and my buddy and his nephews wanted to keep doing this drift.
During the course of about 20-30 minutes, the seas over the jetty built as the current flowing across it built. If we were in my boat, we wouldn’t have been fishing there. I was feeling a bit nervous about the situation but was being told to do it again by the guys in the cockpit. I should have listened to my inner voice and called it off but I didn’t. I’ve often said that the combined IQ of a group of guys gets lower the more guys that are around and this is one of those cases. I didn’t have the guts to speak up and I continued to follow the directions of those who wanted to fish. That was my mistake – especially given the knowledge that a good bit of whiskey had been consumed by those three and hence I should have been able to infer that their judgment may not be at the highest.
As we drifted in for what turned out to be our final drift, it happened. A fairly large wave broke over the stern and dumped maybe 100 gallons into the cockpit. Water hit my back at the helm and even filled the trays on the dash to about ¼”. I got on the throttle and took us south at full power. The boat was very stern heavy and we could only make about 8kts. When that wave broke, it knocked all three in the cockpit down. As I applied throttle to get us out of there, the water going over the back sucked them towards the stern but I don’t think there was a very high danger of them going out at that point in time. However, I did hear some words of panic from one of the three.
Now we needed to de-water. The bilge pump was a piddly thing rated at 360 gals per hour but it probably has a 20” rise to the exit. At it’s best, it might put out 200 gals per hour. My buddy and one of his nephews started bailing, I kept the throttle on. At this point we were relatively safe, the boat was well away from the area of danger, we still had power and we and all our equipment was still in the boat. It took maybe 20+ mins to get the remaining water from the boat with a combination of bailing and bilge pump. The bilge pump clogged twice during that time and my friend had to reach into the bilge and clear the screen. I was still the only one wearing a PFD. Once we were fully de-watered, we made the trip back in over the bar without incident. I took an extra wide swing around the sunken jetty and we were happy when the boat was in the calm water of the harbor.
I did point out that I was the only one wearing a PFD and that the three in the cockpit might want to consider wearing one in the future. The youngest of the three “didn’t want a lecture” and I doubt I made any impact on him. I’m not sure about my buddy, the other nephew or the sister but I rather doubt that they will become regular PFD wearers in the future. I’ve had my buddy and one of his nephew's on my boat and on my boat, wearing a PFD is required. But it’s not something I can make happen on someone else’s boat.
On the one hand, I feel terrible for allowing myself to get into that position and for allowing myself as the guy at the helm to allow my buddy to get into that position – even if my buddy was giving the instructions. I should have known better and I should have spoke up. On the other hand, I know I did what was right immediately after the wave broke. Without that immediate action on the throttle, I’m quite confident we would have taken another wave over the stern and the boat would have turtled. I wouldn’t get off the throttle until we were well clear of the area of danger and until the boat was mostly dewatered.
Lessons learned:
1) Speak up when you’re not feeling safe on someone else’s boat. Be forceful if you must. I probably wouldn’t have needed to be very forceful to have prevented this problem. I should have simply said, “I don’t feel safe in this situation, we should fish elsewhere”. My buddy almost certainly would have responded positively to that.
2) The puny little bilge pumps put in by manufacturers are completely inadequate. My buddy’s birthday is on Friday. He’s getting a 1100 GPH bilge pump from me and I’ll help install it.
3) Check the bilge area – clean it out of fish scales and hair frequently. While the bilge pump was not very useful at full output, it became completely useless twice in this scenario. I think the second larger bilge pump will get installed an inch or two higher than the first.
4) PFD’s are a good thing but they only work if you have them on. The water where we were at was 57-58 degrees. The current was ripping pretty hard. If we took that second wave over, the three in the back would have been in the water. While the youngest one confidently expressed that he could swim to the jetty while I was “lecturing” on the value of PFD’s, I’m 100% sure that the only place any of them would have gone was wherever the current wanted to take them. Given how far that first wave came into the cockpit, I’m not confident I could have gotten off a call to the coast guard if the boat took a second wave. I would have been in the water too but with the benefit of a PFD. I probably could have gotten a PFD on the sister since there were 2 to her immediate left. I’m not sure I could have done anything for the 3 in the cockpit. I think the odds of them dying in such an event were fairly high.
5) If a wave does break over the stern, don’t delay and get on the throttle. I learned that lesson from this site and others by reading accident reports. I learned it first hand on Sunday.
6) Read accident reports and play through various scenarios in your own mind. I think that may have saved us yesterday.
7) Don’t drink while on the water. I was the only male on board who was completely sober yesterday. The sister was in good shape, the other 3 were functional but at least somewhat impaired. The adrenaline brought on by having many gallons of cold water pouring over them brought them to a high level of alertness pretty quickly. However, I believe that had they been 100% sober, they might have been less cavalier about wanting to fish the sunken jetty. In fact at one point, my buddy told his sister not to look back since it was “pretty ugly behind us”. This was before the wave broke. Good sense would have indicated this was a sign that we should drive forward rather than drifting back across for another attempt.
8) Guys – be especially cognizant of the group psychology amongst guys that often makes a group of guys far more stupid than any one guy alone. I often joke that the combined IQ of a group of guys goes as the inverse square of the number of guys present and the inverse cube if they’re trying to impress a girl. This situation was created at least partially by guys (myself included) being so focused on doing the manly fishing thing that none of us stopped to say “this is stupid”. It was stupid. There’s no other excuse. Each and every one of us was stupid. Period. However, by recognizing situations in which you are likely to be stupid, maybe you can prevent them in the future. I hope I have the guts to speak up in a similar situation in the future. I could have prevented this near death experience with a little more courage.
P.S. – after we got off the water we had lunch in Westport at a bar. My buddy had iced tea. I had my one beer for the day. I offered to drive home but he said he was fine. About 10 minutes into the trip, I asked if he was OK as he looked tired and wasn’t driving as perfect as I would expect. My gentle hint resulted in him saying we should swap and I drove the rest of the way home. If the gentle hint didn’t work, I would have been more forceful – which is exactly what I should have done earlier.
NOTE: I’m posting this to the “That’s life section” since that section is not 100% public. In the interest of not embarrassing my buddy or making him feel bad (who really is a good guy), I’d appreciate it if this were not reposted elsewhere. He and I will probably have many mini-review sessions of this incident over the coming weeks and while I am helping to install a new bilge pump. He’s a smart guy and I’m sure he’s learned a number of lessons from this. For one, I bet he never fishes the sunken jetty again except at slack.