Jump to content

Mexico bay accident


Recommended Posts

First, glad you're all well and thanks for sharing your story. Accidents happen in a split second so safety must always come first!!

Adding to this is my story of years ago in the Orangeville reservoir in Ontario. We flipped a 12' aluminum boat in the fall not more than 100' from shore. Were dressed in warm (read: weigh like bricks when wet) clothing. Sitting on our life jackets and fishing away. My friend stood up, lost his balance and we were over. Everything floated away in an ever increasing circle. Our life jackets were nowhere to be seen, unbelievable but true!! We couldn't swim 1 stroke in our heavy clothes. What literally saved our lives was a very fortunate find of a submerged stump about 5' under water that we stood on for about 3 minutes, which is how long it took for a good Samaritan, who seen our mishap, to reach us and haul us into his boat. It has changed the way I view and think about safety.

My point is that the life jacket works only when worn!! Period. It is the single most important tool on our boats BUT only when worn!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Bobinette said:

First, glad you're all well and thanks for sharing your story. Accidents happen in a split second so safety must always come first!!

Adding to this is my story of years ago in the Orangeville reservoir in Ontario. We flipped a 12' aluminum boat in the fall not more than 100' from shore. Were dressed in warm (read: weigh like bricks when wet) clothing. Sitting on our life jackets and fishing away. My friend stood up, lost his balance and we were over. Everything floated away in an ever increasing circle. Our life jackets were nowhere to be seen, unbelievable but true!! We couldn't swim 1 stroke in our heavy clothes. What literally saved our lives was a very fortunate find of a submerged stump about 5' under water that we stood on for about 3 minutes, which is how long it took for a good Samaritan, who seen our mishap, to reach us and haul us into his boat. It has changed the way I view and think about safety.

My point is that the life jacket works only when worn!! Period. It is the single most important tool on our boats BUT only when worn!

Thank you for your story. I hope everyone recovered from your accident. spacer.pngHere’s some pics of the boat as it stands. Plus a pic of the jacket worn by the 9 year old :) 

33F2B0A4-310E-4CCE-9E24-0BCFF242007B.jpeg

04E37F9C-6564-4DAB-B43C-1ED2E89F183C.jpeg

7E2185DC-EA3C-494D-9251-A9F44ECE1104.jpeg

A5AE5D45-647D-48A1-B381-98E29F1C169D.jpeg

D736C291-5DDD-42F1-87F2-2659A1E463A3.jpeg

Edited by Offshore IV
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ohhhh man that looks rough!!! Is the damage from the recovery effort? Big loss on the boat if you have no insurance but hopefully the engine is fixable.

Yes we are both fine from my accident, thanks. Were chilled to the bone but not much else. A lot wiser though!!!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for misfortune but glad that you and your crew made it back safely. Your calm demeanor and the fact that you  instituted an immediate rescue plan was the main reason that this  horrific situation did not become a catastrophe. Things can happen fast. I was straight out in 500 ft of water at Oak Orchard in late August two years ago when that 19 footer went under in seconds in  what they said were 5 to 7 foot waves. One soul was lost. There were four of us in my 28 ft Sportcraft, We never saw or heard anything. We remarked at the proximity of two freighters. Very unusual. I even posted on line some fish pics that morning on this forum not knowing how close we may have been to the tragedy. We all felt bad then and still think about that when out off shore. In 2017 I hit a submerged log while going about 25 MPH off the Oak. The jar nearly knocked my buddy off his seat and my wrist was hurting as I had lunged forward. What a surprise. The prop was retooled and is working fine. That same year I had the misfortune to have a fire on the boat. A frayed downrigger shorted out and caused an electrical fire that ignited a mess of oil soaked wires in the bilge. Smoke was coming out of the air vents and gunnels. We cautiously opened the engine cover slightly and applied the fire extinguisher. I hailed on 16 for assistance and the coast guard in Buffalo replied immediately.  They hailed other boats in the area to help but after receiving no response they contacted the Rochester Coast Guard that brought us back.  Very nice crew, The boat passed the inspection.  I put in a separate terminal bar and rewired with heavy gauge Romex to remedy the situation. The most harrowing boating event that I personally  was involved with occurred in the late 60s on the Chesapeake Bay off Point Lookout. I had purchased my first boat a 15 1/2 ft Montgomery Ward's Sea KIng, with a 55 HP Chrysler. My father and I were blue fishing on a very warm, humid 95 degree day. The bay was just like glass. My father noticed that the water was turning green. We immediately saw a pitch black sky heading toward us from the North. We also put on our life preservers at that time.  The wind hit us almost immediately. We creeped for two miles in 6 ft seas with only 18 inches of free board.  You could not see 100 yards and we were 2 miles from shore. We capsized and lost all our gear and the battery. With the air pocket the boat stayed afloat and we paddled toward shore. We never lost our cool and I was able to touch bottom in about 1 hour. Some beach house owner saw us and helped us get to shore. The sad situation here and a lesson to be learned was that I thought I can go out fairly far because it is calm and if any problem comes up I can just  zip in. The weatherman estimated the winds on the bay were in excess of 85 MPH. A week later I read a report that a 38 ft boat capsized off St Jerome creek in that storm which was about 1 mile from where we ended up. Stay calm and never be complacent when it comes to open water. I wish you all the best in you efforts to get on the water again. BTW the Chrysler was dried out and worked fine for years after. I am a retired bluesuiter, 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try to look on the brighter side.:smile: You have your lives (very fortunately), the engine is usually the most expensive part of the equation, looks like you still have usable equipment to outfit another boat-and you are probably young enough to start it all again and most important of all is that you have successfully survived a an important life lesson and won't take anything for granted in the way of safety in the future (priceless:smile:).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2nd what sk8man said.  Also think of all the eyes that opened up becouse of ur accident.  I brought someone new yesterday on my boat.  1st thing I did was pull lif jackets out of cuddy And put them under captains chair.  Bein it was rough I drilled him with the first thing he should do should I maybe go overboard while reachin out to hook riggers. Throw multiple life jackets, disengage AP while droppin to neutral.  Scary to think about thou.  
  Also just got my pups there lifejackets Today so they have a fighting chance As well.  

3F9B8F98-5E11-4581-9D4E-CB67980A5A91.jpeg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys. I’ve got her back on the trailer with the help of the winch, a tractor and a car jack. I don’t have time to get it anywhere this year tho. I’m always looking for another project. I’m glad there’s a few positives out of the whole thing. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all- again, I appreciate all the kind words and what not. I’ve stepped away from the reports here for a minute and took some time to get right. I came to the conclusion that I’d rather not live my life on my knees, and debated on taking the dozen or so of you up on a tag along ride. Thank you all who offered. It’s a nice reminder that there is decent Americans left in 2020. By happen chance, I had the opportunity to jump on a 20’ Grady white in prestine condition from a gentleman on Oneida lake. So I will be picking her up tonight! 
 

that said, I don’t think I can keep my boat for multiple reasons. I likely will be selling my depth finder, and anything else I can pull off it that I know works. I will be keeping the 90 with the intention to put it on the Grady, tho it will be under powered. I care not. The Grady has a pull start 2012 merc kicker, no charging and I’d consider selling that if anyone has interest. It has less than ten hours on it and hasn’t been run in three years other than winterizing and spring startup. I’ll be selling the boat trailer, which is a 2017 single axle, weighs 583 and has a weight capacity of 3500 pounds. I paid $2400 for it brand new. However, if you want the trailer, you’re getting the boat. I cannot separate unless I sell the boat and tow it out to the new owner. The boat can definitely be repaired by the right metal worker. It has a 17 gallon fuel tank that was $350 new. I managed to save my fishawk, batteries, switch, tracks, riggers and three rod holders. Lost every single one of my rods/reels tho. 
 

I will be posting pictures of everything when I can pull it off and confirm it all works. If you’re interested in anything, pm me. I have a couple guys who have already informed me they’d be interested in stuff. 
 

what I’ll do is post the link to anything I’m selling here as well as in the classifieds so you all will be notified. Similarly, I’ll be in the market for electric riggers and poles/reels. I saved my spoon holder and tackle box with flies/flashers/rigs. I’m not in much hurry to buy anything as the season is winding down and now I have to build a barn lol 

 

thanks to all again. It’s been a tough exact month. I managed to get on an Adirondack lake in a 14’ boat to get my legs back from under me. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's good to hear from you and see that you're moving forward. Hard to keep a boater/fisherman down.

Again thanks for sharing your horrific story and how prepared you were with the life jackets. We were out yesterday and it got pretty snotty but we had the jackets out and accessible. Lucky we didn't need them but if we did we would have been prepared because of your warning.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great to hear you're still in the game. I hope the family recovered well. Sharing your mishap is most honorable. Folks are upgrading safety equipment, having drills, picking up floating debri, etc. My last couple of trips out you were on our minds. Good luck with the new rig, hope to see you again, I'm sure I will. I'm always in the market for a bigger boat, but until it finds me, we'll keep at it. See you on the pond buddy. Clark

Sent from my SM-G900P using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Think that's the same boat I reached out about on craigslist too [emoji38]. Nice rig and glad someone from LOU got it. Best of luck and glad you're getting back out there

Thanks guys. I’m glad there’s positivity out of it! 
 
here’s the new Grady!
 Terrible pic but it’s what I’ve got so far. I feel like that guy who’s trying to sell a boat and posts terrible or no pics lol 
 
E836191B-B83A-4A41-9531-61E402DEE91F.thumb.jpeg.d4f329ff4c5747e633739a5cdf41f8a1.jpeg


Sent from my SM-A515U using Lake Ontario United mobile app

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...