I have always seemed to have bad experiences on boats when other people are involved. Im fine by myself but other people seem to get me into dangerous situations.
Here are some.
When I was 15 (Im 26 now) my uncle would take me out all the time on his 21 ft bayliner. One time we ran over a crap trap line and of course I volunteer to get in the water and try to free it. He was holding to engine (outboard) up some so it would be easier for me to get to the prop when all of a sudden a wave comes and he drops it. It cracks me in the head and I had to get stitches above my eye.
Then a couple weeks later we are cruzing the ICW gong north towards Tampa bay. Im only 15 and at the time had not had a bunch of experience navigating on the water yet. But Im sitting there, we are doing about 30 kts. Im looking at all the other boats that are staying in the channel markers then BAM. dead stop the out board comes up and slams into the transom, I flew foreword and cut and bruised my leg, my uncle comes out unscaved though. We went so far onto the sand bar that we had to wait for the tide to come back in to get off.
Fast forward 6 years and now Im 21. My uncle moves to Destin in the pan handle and buys a 25 ft Catalina sailboat, I come up there shortly after to work with him and we go sailing. Im surprised that it actually can be fun sailing even though its slow going. I wont mention the minor stuff like near collisions with huge barges at nighttime, or getting stuck on every sandbar around.
But a year after he bought it he decided to buy some property in GA and build a house. He sells me the sailboat but I have to come get it. SO I decide Im gonna sail it back. Now I just gotta figure out who will come with me. Hmmmm I found someone who is adventurous who I have known for a very long time.
We drive up there get on the sailboat and go. The first day is great. Smooth as a lake in the gulf. But my friend is crying saying hes sea sick. I told him there is no sea to be sick of right now. Its smooth as a lake. our plans were to hug the coast until after Panama city then there is Cape San Blas. Cape San Blas is like a huge sand bar that extends about 10 miles off shore so we at least have to go around the marker thats 12 miles off shore. Since we had to do this our plans were to just cut across to tarpon springs.
Since my friend is " sea sick" I drive all day then most of the night till we reach where we have to start going out to the marker around Cape San Blas.
I tell him he has to drive now because I have to get at least an hours sleep or something. He says ok and I go lay down. I wake up an hour later and hes screaming, the boat is going straight up then straight down and slamming on the bottom. I said WTH is going on? I look at the GPS and we are only 2 miles off shore right in the middle of the Cape San Blas sand bars. I asked him WTH did he do and he says he was too scared to go that far off shore. He literally breaks down and goes in the cabin starts balling crying and wont help me do anything. Im scared now too because I know if I fall off the boat or if it gets any worse He wont be able to do anything. So I tie myself to the boat and try to get out of the mess. We end up getting through it somehow and making our way to the entrance to appalacha bay at about 4AM.
We try to go in the entrance and its very small. As soon as we make it through we hit a sand bar. I had not planned on being here so we were unprepared. After an hour of trying get in the pass I just said hell with it and we anchored until the sun came up.
The sun comes up and I wake up to someone on a boat yelling asking if we were ok. We were anchored right in the channel and didn't even know it. I told him what happened and he let us follow him to a marina where we could figure out what we were gonna do.
My friend says he doesnt wanna go on so I have to pay for a dock for a couple days while I go back home and find someone else.
I find someone else and we come back to the boat. Hes really up beat and excited about it. Im doni some safety checks before we cross the gulf about 150 miles. He sees me scurrying around and asks me what Im doing and I tell him I checking all our safety gear and gonna show him where everything is incase something happens. I said something like "none of this matters if we die. We need to get back alive or who cares" or something and he says " I dont care if we die" Im like great i go from some one scared to death to someone who doesnt care if we die.
Well we set off and we didnt know that in all the Cape San Blas crap something happened that made the outboard stop charging the batteries. So about 2 hours later all the batteries die, radio, GPS, lights , everything. another 3 hours and its dark. Last thing right before the batteries died we heard on the radio something like "Warning, you are approaching an air force......." And I see on the chart there are white big buoys around us that are marked air force on the map. And I know its a bombing range somewhere around there. So we use the compass and make our way to Tarpos Springs. When We pull in we have no lights nothing. Even though its late at night there are a few boats out and they cant see us because we have no lights. So Im using a flashlight to try to warn them of us. I call Sea Tow and he says for us to Anchor. I tried to get him to come get us and take us to a dock somewhere and he refused. He told us to just anchor till morning. He said he doesnt know where he will take us if he comes and gets us there are no docks open. When we wake up we travel about 2 miles inland and there is a huge marina with tons of dock space. The guy is cool and charges our batteries for us.
So anyways after all that we made it back alive.
Then two weeks ago my gf family comes down from NJ and I take them out on the Donzi 25 I just bought. We go to an Island called beer can island that everyone around here likes to hang out on. This is right at an inlet that is the only place water enters the ICW and Sarasota Bay for about 10 miles either way so there is always a good current right there but its usually not that bad. The tide was going out and this time there was a pretty good current I didnt know how strong it was or I wouldnt have went there.
With us are her two 9 year old cousins and her 15 year old cousin. Us 4 walk down some to where there is a good beach where there are no boats. I told them they need to wear they're life jackets in the water.
We are standing a little less than waist deep and a wave comes and picks one of the 9 yr olds up. when it does this the current was strong enough that it carried him about 15 feet where he couldn't touch the bottom. I saw he was just about 15-20 ft so I went to get him. by the time I went to get him we were about 30-45 ft from shore and trapped in the current bad. then next thing you know the 16 yr old and the other 9 yr old are out there too.
so all four of us are stuck in the current I am trying to swim to shore to get the boat for about 10 mins and Im getting farther and farther. Someone on the beach sees we are in trouble and swims out to get one of the kids. He gets half way then realizes that the current is too strong and swims back. Im exhausted at this point. I knew we were in big trouble. The 2 9 yr olds had life jackets on so they were ok just scared but me and the 16 yr old didnt and were trapped. everytime I would stop swimming to see if I could touch the bottom or wave for help I got sucked under. Rip current.
I flag someone down on a jet ski after another 10 mins and its a 15 or so year old kid. At this point we are about 3/4 mile in the gulf. We were passed the first two markers. The kid comes and gets us one at a time and luckily we were ok but for a min I thought we were gonna die.
So it seems that people always get me into trouble when Im on the water.
Here are some.
When I was 15 (Im 26 now) my uncle would take me out all the time on his 21 ft bayliner. One time we ran over a crap trap line and of course I volunteer to get in the water and try to free it. He was holding to engine (outboard) up some so it would be easier for me to get to the prop when all of a sudden a wave comes and he drops it. It cracks me in the head and I had to get stitches above my eye.
Then a couple weeks later we are cruzing the ICW gong north towards Tampa bay. Im only 15 and at the time had not had a bunch of experience navigating on the water yet. But Im sitting there, we are doing about 30 kts. Im looking at all the other boats that are staying in the channel markers then BAM. dead stop the out board comes up and slams into the transom, I flew foreword and cut and bruised my leg, my uncle comes out unscaved though. We went so far onto the sand bar that we had to wait for the tide to come back in to get off.
Fast forward 6 years and now Im 21. My uncle moves to Destin in the pan handle and buys a 25 ft Catalina sailboat, I come up there shortly after to work with him and we go sailing. Im surprised that it actually can be fun sailing even though its slow going. I wont mention the minor stuff like near collisions with huge barges at nighttime, or getting stuck on every sandbar around.
But a year after he bought it he decided to buy some property in GA and build a house. He sells me the sailboat but I have to come get it. SO I decide Im gonna sail it back. Now I just gotta figure out who will come with me. Hmmmm I found someone who is adventurous who I have known for a very long time.
We drive up there get on the sailboat and go. The first day is great. Smooth as a lake in the gulf. But my friend is crying saying hes sea sick. I told him there is no sea to be sick of right now. Its smooth as a lake. our plans were to hug the coast until after Panama city then there is Cape San Blas. Cape San Blas is like a huge sand bar that extends about 10 miles off shore so we at least have to go around the marker thats 12 miles off shore. Since we had to do this our plans were to just cut across to tarpon springs.
Since my friend is " sea sick" I drive all day then most of the night till we reach where we have to start going out to the marker around Cape San Blas.
I tell him he has to drive now because I have to get at least an hours sleep or something. He says ok and I go lay down. I wake up an hour later and hes screaming, the boat is going straight up then straight down and slamming on the bottom. I said WTH is going on? I look at the GPS and we are only 2 miles off shore right in the middle of the Cape San Blas sand bars. I asked him WTH did he do and he says he was too scared to go that far off shore. He literally breaks down and goes in the cabin starts balling crying and wont help me do anything. Im scared now too because I know if I fall off the boat or if it gets any worse He wont be able to do anything. So I tie myself to the boat and try to get out of the mess. We end up getting through it somehow and making our way to the entrance to appalacha bay at about 4AM.
We try to go in the entrance and its very small. As soon as we make it through we hit a sand bar. I had not planned on being here so we were unprepared. After an hour of trying get in the pass I just said hell with it and we anchored until the sun came up.
The sun comes up and I wake up to someone on a boat yelling asking if we were ok. We were anchored right in the channel and didn't even know it. I told him what happened and he let us follow him to a marina where we could figure out what we were gonna do.
My friend says he doesnt wanna go on so I have to pay for a dock for a couple days while I go back home and find someone else.
I find someone else and we come back to the boat. Hes really up beat and excited about it. Im doni some safety checks before we cross the gulf about 150 miles. He sees me scurrying around and asks me what Im doing and I tell him I checking all our safety gear and gonna show him where everything is incase something happens. I said something like "none of this matters if we die. We need to get back alive or who cares" or something and he says " I dont care if we die" Im like great i go from some one scared to death to someone who doesnt care if we die.
Well we set off and we didnt know that in all the Cape San Blas crap something happened that made the outboard stop charging the batteries. So about 2 hours later all the batteries die, radio, GPS, lights , everything. another 3 hours and its dark. Last thing right before the batteries died we heard on the radio something like "Warning, you are approaching an air force......." And I see on the chart there are white big buoys around us that are marked air force on the map. And I know its a bombing range somewhere around there. So we use the compass and make our way to Tarpos Springs. When We pull in we have no lights nothing. Even though its late at night there are a few boats out and they cant see us because we have no lights. So Im using a flashlight to try to warn them of us. I call Sea Tow and he says for us to Anchor. I tried to get him to come get us and take us to a dock somewhere and he refused. He told us to just anchor till morning. He said he doesnt know where he will take us if he comes and gets us there are no docks open. When we wake up we travel about 2 miles inland and there is a huge marina with tons of dock space. The guy is cool and charges our batteries for us.
So anyways after all that we made it back alive.
Then two weeks ago my gf family comes down from NJ and I take them out on the Donzi 25 I just bought. We go to an Island called beer can island that everyone around here likes to hang out on. This is right at an inlet that is the only place water enters the ICW and Sarasota Bay for about 10 miles either way so there is always a good current right there but its usually not that bad. The tide was going out and this time there was a pretty good current I didnt know how strong it was or I wouldnt have went there.
With us are her two 9 year old cousins and her 15 year old cousin. Us 4 walk down some to where there is a good beach where there are no boats. I told them they need to wear they're life jackets in the water.
We are standing a little less than waist deep and a wave comes and picks one of the 9 yr olds up. when it does this the current was strong enough that it carried him about 15 feet where he couldn't touch the bottom. I saw he was just about 15-20 ft so I went to get him. by the time I went to get him we were about 30-45 ft from shore and trapped in the current bad. then next thing you know the 16 yr old and the other 9 yr old are out there too.
so all four of us are stuck in the current I am trying to swim to shore to get the boat for about 10 mins and Im getting farther and farther. Someone on the beach sees we are in trouble and swims out to get one of the kids. He gets half way then realizes that the current is too strong and swims back. Im exhausted at this point. I knew we were in big trouble. The 2 9 yr olds had life jackets on so they were ok just scared but me and the 16 yr old didnt and were trapped. everytime I would stop swimming to see if I could touch the bottom or wave for help I got sucked under. Rip current.
I flag someone down on a jet ski after another 10 mins and its a 15 or so year old kid. At this point we are about 3/4 mile in the gulf. We were passed the first two markers. The kid comes and gets us one at a time and luckily we were ok but for a min I thought we were gonna die.
So it seems that people always get me into trouble when Im on the water.
