On The Rocks

[Guest]

Here is a pix for the site.



The sail boat in the background ran straight into a sea mount. We were in the Shamrock in the foreground mooching for cabezon and lings in the kelp off the side of this sea mount in an eddy right next to a tidal rip, when I heard the crash and looked up to see them with all the rigging and sails shaking and 5 or 6 on board doing tumbles. We were fishing at the edge of the tidal rip that ran between the two sea mounts, the one the sail boat is on and the one we ended up on.

We headed to the rescue with me at the wheel and I wheel way out and around the sea mount and over to the sail boat while Jesse called the Coast Guard to report. Then Jesse says we should back up to them, throw them a rope and try to pull them off there. I told him as long as he was captain and he was driving I wouldn't stop him trying. We didn't have half the power we needed, so I said we should go back around to the other side down tide from them so if anyone fell off we would be in a position to save somebody. Great idea.

So Jesse heads out and didn't go far enough around the other sea mount and put us on the rocks. Took about 4 hours for the tide to drop then rise again to float everybody. Private sea rescue service pulled the sail boat in. We limped back to a harbor but a few miles away with a minor bent prop, but the Shamrock has a keel drive hull that laughs at rocks and protected the shaft. And we caught a few nice fish before the sail boat crashed so it wasn't a total fiasco.

[BOX-22]

It sounds like good times were had by all...

[JIP]

Great story Doctor T. Nice picture too!
The water looks red, like the boat was bleeding or something.

Glad everyone was ok.

[Guest]

The red is the sea weed growing on top of the mount. It shows red on the pix but it was very irridescent in the sunlight, quite surreal.

[bitesize]

Holy cow!
I guess you had a lot of time while stuck on there since you took the pic.
Were you able to fish nearby or at least check out the tide pool creatures?

I bet you're always checking the tide tables now!

[Guest]

Yeah, lots of time. After we confirmed the hull was sound and shaft looked good and only one bit of a nick on one prop blade, we knew all we needed was to wait for the tide to float her and we could go on gettin' on.

Thoughts then immediatly started to focus on, can we fish while waiting?? All we got is mooching gear. Only weights on board are 4 to 8 oz. No way to cast to fishes from the mount. Even if you could cast out 200 feet and let it drop 50+ feet to the fish, if you hooked one, you would have to fight them through the kelp all the way. So not only you can't cast, you can't fight or land anything.



So, God says, stop for 4 hours and look at what I made with the winds and tides powered by the sun and moon.