Good deed for the New Year
My now 7 yr old daughter and I were trying to catch a redfish on New Years Day on the Suwannee River in Suwannee, FL. The weather was not perfect for the outing. Wind blowing 20 out of the north and about 45 degrees. Tides were running strong due to the blue moon and the tide was rushing out. On our way back in we were flagged down by a man and woman in a 24' Shearwater that had run aground trying to assist another couple that were broke down in a 16' airboat. It was a dismal scene. Both the man and the woman in the Shearwater were wading in the 55 degree water in the muck trying to free their vessel and some 150' closer to shore the man in the airboat was in the water trying to pull his vessel off the mud and attempt to make it over to the Shearwater. I asked if they could feel their extremities and they replied "barely", I knew we needed to act fast as the tide was leaving. My 19' NV boat has a 10" draft and I can usually jack the motor and make way in 12 to 14". I motored over to the Shearwater and towed them off the mud bar after the second attempt. As soon as they were in deep water they anchored down with the power pole. My boat will embarrass you in a 20 knot wind with the motor jacked all the way up so all the floundering around took approx 15 minutes. In the meanwhile, the man from the airboat had managed to walk thru the knee deep muck to the Shearwater and the woman from the airboat was in the water using the now floating airboat to keep her balance and pull her legs out of the muck bottom. All of out attention turned to her. I knew there was a slightly deeper creek bottom perpendicular to shore and somewhere near where the airboat was now anchored. I must have found it and motored all the way to the side of the airboat. The nice lady was not very talkative and was just before panic. She tried several times to pull herself up onto the boats but she was too tired. I left the helm and went to the front deck where I pulled her up by her arm and set her on the front deck of my boat. She was exhausted and relieved. I reversed my course and took her over to the Shearwater where she climbed aboard the other boat. The owner of the airboat did not want to risk my getting stuck and decided to abandon the boat. The airboat spent the night and most of the next day high and dry on the mud bank. As the sun was setting the weary couples gave us their thanks and we all exchanged names. I guess the adrenaline was up as neither I nor my daughter could remember their names. She named them happy, soggy, wet and tired.
We helped out some fellow boaters and made some memories that will last a lifetime.
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