I'm glad it wasn't mine but the guy in the white Sea Swirl had some major damage to the lower end of his outboard and his prop was trashed plus the fiberglass was chipped pretty badly. When the waves picked up around 6pm we decided to call it a day and the closer we got to the South marina the worse the waves got. Halfway there we saw a small boat being pulled back to the docks, 100 yards from the channel we saw a guy in a canoe that looked like he was in trouble. We went to swing around to ask if he needed help when the guy in the sea swirl came in to offer assistance. We watched as he got closer and closer to the rocks, when he realized he was too close he tried to back up but his motor quick. It was too late by then and the waves started pounding him into the rocks. The guy in the canoe just had his anchor stuck and after he saw what was happening, it looked like he just cut his anchor and headed to the marina. Wiperslayer started pulling his boat in closer so I could throw a rope to the guy in the Sea Swirl, after some problems we started pulling the boat off the rocks. Then the big 4 ft. waves started pounding us from behind and we thought we were going to be in trouble but we made it out far enough to keep him off the rocks. This gave him time to move the rope to the front of his boat so we could tow him into the marina. The owner of the Sea Swirl had his dad and his son in the boat with him and they looked worried for a while. After we got both boats out of the water we looked at the damage to the Sea Swirl as I listed at the beginning of this post. We were glad that we were able to help them but the bad part, other than the damage to his boat, was the guy in the canoe never bothered to come over and thank the guy in the Sea Swirl for trying to help him.
We talked to BLM and although we did not know it at the time saw Tubedude and Tubebabe with him. Sorry, I did not know that was you Pat, I thought you said you were going out with BLM yesterday? We saw Predator and Fishnfool from a distance, also waved to Old_Coot at the mouth of the channel. Talked to MJB for a few minutes and talked to some friends of CBR in the brown camo canoe. I also talked to a few more guys, some caught walleye others caught wipers. We ended up with two wipers before the wind came up. Sounds like a lot of people did good today and others not so good, another normal day a Willard I say. WH2
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Talk about a sour reward for his efforts. That's too bad he got all banged up for just trying to help someone out. Perhaps Karma will one day
upon him. Thanks for the report.
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[size 1][#0000ff]"We did not know whether to blame ... or the fact that Kent had ruined the lake the previous week."[/#0000ff][/size]
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[#0000ff][size 1]I am not to blame, almost everyone I have gone with or taken during "the long drought" has caught fish.[/size][/#0000ff]
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[size 2][font "Comic Sans MS"][black]WH2,[/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black]When you waved at me, did I wave back? I had no clue that you were out on Willard yesterday ... especially right behind me! That is until MGB mentioned to me that you were out there.[/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black]Earlier, I watched that guy in the canoe and I remember thinking "man, he sure is a long ways out on the lake with such threatening weather coming in".[/black][/font][/size]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]You know, this brings up a good point of discussion:[/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]When should we, as boaters, render assistance? At what cost should we render assistance? [/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]There are rules and guidelines that are established to help people make wise decisions when rendering assistance. to paraphrase The Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971, "An individual of a vessel shall render all practical and necessary assistance to persons affected by a collision, accident or casuality to the extent he can do so without serious danger to his own vessel or persons aboard." You can be fined as much as $1000 for not rendering assistance.[/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Obviously common sense comes into play when making the decision to rendering assistance. If human life is in danger a greater risk is warranted but what about some one's property?[/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]In this situation, with canoe in apparent distress, were the right decisions made? Obviously this went from a bad situation to worse quickly. [/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]What do you think?[/size][/black][/font]
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No need to apologize my esteemed colleague. No nerve touched here, except maybe a slight nerve of embarrassment.
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Great questions. I have gotten myself stranded in my boat (never in any danger fortunately -- just not able to get back to the dock), and I have been extremely grateful to those who have taken the time to tow me back to the dock. I have in turn never hesitated to render aid to stranded, and in one case capsized boaters. I believe most of us would try to render aid, without even stopping to think how dangerous the situation is, because we instinctively just give aid first. Only after the situation has passed do we reflect that we could have done harm to our equipment or worse yet harm to ourselves.
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Yes, you waved back. We were in Wiperslayers new Lowe with a red upper half, I was on the far side so you might not have seen me. I'm not sure if you have met Ira but we came within 40 or 50 yards twice. WH2
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I have always helped out a stranded boat,I fill carma will get you if you dont do somthing to help out a stranded fisherperson.I know I will need help someday and hope there will be someone that is kind enough to help me out.It sounds like I left just in time before the wind came up.I try to get off the lake when I see lighting coming my way.it's to bad the guy in the canoe didn't thank the guy that destroyed his boat trying to help him.some people are that way.I dont understand them.and I bet the guy you helped out couldn't thank you enough.your a good guy curt,good on ya man.
FNF[cool]
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After seeing what happened to the Sea Swirl we made sure we were not very close, lucky for us we had plenty of anchor rope. We were thinking the same thing you stated, not to put ourself in danger but we had to help the guys get off the rocks. We were never in trouble except when the waves started coming over the transom, after the second wave come over the back we able to change direction so we were not backing into the waves. We did not want to get the prop anywhere near those rocks, that is why we backing the boat away from the rocks. The mistake the guy in the Sea Swirl made was not paying attention to how close he was to the rocks. When we got to the shore he also told us that he had forgotten his motor had been dying when he put it in reverse. When he went in close to ask the guy in the canoe if he needed assistance he went in bow first, forgetting he could not back up. When the guy in the canoe cut his rope and hi tailed it out of there you could see a big
on his face, like he thought it was funny, what a jerk.
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I think your post said it all,I always try and help people on the water,but you also have to think of your own passengers
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When I went through the EMT training, one of the first things you learn is to secure the scene from hazards before rendering help. If you as a rescuer gets hurt, you are only impeding the help to the original victim. Including making sure your equipment is up to the task. An equipment failure like that likely endangered 4 lives, not 1. Having been the unfortuanate recipient of a ( as Pat would put it ) "mercy towing," I am just as guilty of needing a tow as the other guy. The only real difference is I smacked something with the prop out in the lake and couldn't make it back. It enrages me to think that after all that the guy in the canoe didn't even have the decency to say thank you, or I'm sorry.
Kudo's to the guy who wrecked his boat. Even though it turned into a bad situation for him, this world needs more people who are selfless enough to render help despite the potential for they're own loss, and kudo's to you wiperslayer and wh2.
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