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Posts: 3870
| You bet, a big one, too. When the gas and electric motors go down in big wind, I can use it to keep the bow pointed into the waves as I drift. And it will hopefully catch before I blow into whatever the shoreline has to offer my boat. The idea is to stay safe until help arrives. All this described above by others.
I've been blown into shore, surfed the rollers because that's all I could do after making that bad decision to run from safe water to the landing, at night by myself. 14' boat. Two waves over the transom, maybe just one, and I would have been swimming. Life jacket, yes, but it was late fall in the UP and the water was very cold. So I ran and at the last moment turned the boat sideways, jerked the 15hp motor up and washed up on shore. Jumped out of the boat onto land, two more waves and my boat was totally swamped. Had to empty the boat of all weight, especially the motor, then tied up to the jeep and pulled the nose onto shore. I moved the boat as the waves hit it first from the side then from behind. Got it far enough to pull the plug and bail faster than the waves were refilling the boat. Pulled it up some more then totally bailed the boat. Rehooked the tilt trailer, backed up to the boat, wrestled and cranked the boat onto the trailer, and then put all my #*#*, including the motor, back in/on the boat. "Tragedy narrowly averted."
I don't gonzo fish these days. An anchor prol wouldn't have helped me that night, my boat was a cork in 4' rollers. My current boat is a Yar Craft 209tfx with a 250 Verado and a 9.9 kicker. Big troller on the front, and with the kicker in idle forward, or just a touch on its throttle, it spot locks in big wind. But I never forgot the lesson I learned that night. I will never allow the wind to swamp me from behind or the side, or blow my boat onto shore, so, a big ass anchor to keep the bow pointed into the wind and keep me off the rocks. And a second serious rope to throw to help because I won't be able to retrieve the anchor rope until I start to get pulled forward. | |
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