achris
More fish than mountain goat
- Joined
- May 19, 2004
- Messages
- 27,468
Ok... You are going to love this one...
Diving with the ex-GF. Set the anchor just west of a (north-south running) channel. We were diving on some channel markers to get mussels. The wind was from the SE. Anchored in 6 metres of water (the channel depth was 15)... Got in the water and dropped down to about 5 metres where the mussels are the biggest. Spent no more than 10 minutes there. Come up, no boat! The wind had swung to the SW and the anchor slid off the side of the bank and wasn't long enough to reach the bottom. So up the channel she drifted. I told the GF to stay put and I'd come back and get her. I took off after the boat, drifting straight up the main shipping channel... As I'm swimming (in full SCUBA kit) I'm getting tired, but realise that to stop and have a breather would mean all the ground I had made so far would be lost.... A thought runs though my head.... What could be worst than swimming up a shipping channel, chasing a boat that is drifting only marginally slower than I'm swimming? The answer is... a ship coming up the channel. I look over my shoulder and what do I see? A ship coming up the channel. Not good. Now I absolutely must catch that boat! I power on, closing the gap ever so slowly. Eventually I get to within about 20 metres and the 'mermaid line' I always stream is within grasp. I glance over my shoulder to see where that ship is, and immediately wish I hadn't. I can count the rivets on his foremast! I grab the mermaid line and pull myself towards the boat as hard as I can. I making it to the boarding ladder and climb straight up, complete with tank and fins! I flick the fins off and dive to the engine key, hoping she catches first go... She did! I drop the gear lever forward and gently move out of the channel (remember the anchor line is still in the water). Once I'm out of the channel and the ship has streamed passed, I drop all my dive gear off, climb up the front and pull the anchor, then head back looking for the GF... She's just where I left her, patiently waiting for me, completely unaware of the drama that had occurred. When I told her, she just asked if anything ever happens like that in the future, can she have my car!!!
Chris.......
Diving with the ex-GF. Set the anchor just west of a (north-south running) channel. We were diving on some channel markers to get mussels. The wind was from the SE. Anchored in 6 metres of water (the channel depth was 15)... Got in the water and dropped down to about 5 metres where the mussels are the biggest. Spent no more than 10 minutes there. Come up, no boat! The wind had swung to the SW and the anchor slid off the side of the bank and wasn't long enough to reach the bottom. So up the channel she drifted. I told the GF to stay put and I'd come back and get her. I took off after the boat, drifting straight up the main shipping channel... As I'm swimming (in full SCUBA kit) I'm getting tired, but realise that to stop and have a breather would mean all the ground I had made so far would be lost.... A thought runs though my head.... What could be worst than swimming up a shipping channel, chasing a boat that is drifting only marginally slower than I'm swimming? The answer is... a ship coming up the channel. I look over my shoulder and what do I see? A ship coming up the channel. Not good. Now I absolutely must catch that boat! I power on, closing the gap ever so slowly. Eventually I get to within about 20 metres and the 'mermaid line' I always stream is within grasp. I glance over my shoulder to see where that ship is, and immediately wish I hadn't. I can count the rivets on his foremast! I grab the mermaid line and pull myself towards the boat as hard as I can. I making it to the boarding ladder and climb straight up, complete with tank and fins! I flick the fins off and dive to the engine key, hoping she catches first go... She did! I drop the gear lever forward and gently move out of the channel (remember the anchor line is still in the water). Once I'm out of the channel and the ship has streamed passed, I drop all my dive gear off, climb up the front and pull the anchor, then head back looking for the GF... She's just where I left her, patiently waiting for me, completely unaware of the drama that had occurred. When I told her, she just asked if anything ever happens like that in the future, can she have my car!!!
Chris.......
