well the last trip I took is a bit of a story I thought I would share. My inexperience I'm sure has a ton to do with the majority of the experience. Surely there is so much more for me to learn and maybe some one else can learn from this as well. So my first mate and I were dying to fish and set a plan Men only we said we needed some time on the water and so I invited along another friend. Well that morning he cancelled and on the fly I called another friend to come along. He jumped out of bed and was at my house, so now we are showing off the V in all its glory to him with its new name? He says" That is bad luck me and my dad renamed our boat and had terrible luck till we put the old name back" WTF?? news to me and I am not buying it. As we're pulling out of the driveway the "Men Only" idea bites us as my old lady is cussing us saying she hopes the river god swallows us all??? REALLY? It gets better but this as a start to what is supposed to be a relaxing and refreshing day isn't looking so good. We pull up to the bait shop and there are some guys outside "did you call ahead" no.. WHY? "no live bait!".....now some guys might have took all this as a sign of things to come as the boat isn't even in the water and there is three strikes. NOT US we load up on frozen bait and we are on the water. The week before we had had some good luck so we motored in that direction. No fish No fish No fish... we keep looking and the water in this area the week before had been glass now the further we went the rougher it got. I think there may have been about 5-6' chop. We push on and get to a place protected and it all calms down. We set the pick. The poles are in the water and a big sturgeon(what we are after) jumps 20' behind the boat. Yeah Baby!! Now things are looking better. While we are out there a friend has said he is going to head out to so we plan to meet later and we do. We tie the boats up together and we are B.S.ing and fishing and just flat out having a good time. The challenges of the morning all seem lost except the fact none of us have even gotten a bite. the sun starts setting and I make the decision we have a bit of a haul back and we head in. Now since getting the boat I have been working to grow confidence in the boat performing and myself as a new captain. This is the furthest I have taken it and it has run like a top. I'm just cruising back in and the sun is on the horizon and it feels like all is well. As we cross under the bridge( about 5 min from the launch) the motor quits. Uh-oh. Now we aren't in a good or safe area and its getting dark and I don't have a kicker and this isn't good. I drop the anchor and Shawn tells me call the Coast Guard and I do. after what seems like a frantic 30 mins..probably 10. We find out the rotor in the distributor broke. Also since we aren't in immediate danger CG isn't coming and vessel assist want 500$ to come get us for a 5 min tow. Can you guys start to see how many valuable lessons I have learned already? Now we broke right in front of a oil refinery ship dock on the edge of a shipping channel the area is usually very rough but now it is calm. The friend we had met earlier says he got a friend to trailer a small boat down to us and they are coming to tow us in. What a relief. We got back to the launch around 11pm. Safe and sound. now every time I have taken the boat out it takes on water. I assumed all boats do but this time after being out for a long period the water just kept coming after pulling the plug. Having other men watching they were amazed and convinced me that was not normal. The boat has been sitting since and I have worked to address all the issues at hand before taking it out again. In hindsight I am very glad the family wasn't out there. If you took the time to read all this THANK YOU. More importantly if there is anything you have to offer I AM ALL EARS. I really love forums and the ability to tap the knowledge and experiences of others. PRICELESS.
Anthony
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05-21-2013, 11:50 AM
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