- Joined
- Apr 14, 2006
- RO Number
- 20854
- Messages
- 1,192
Yesterday I found myself in one of those situations where - if I had skipped some safety precautions - things could have been a bit ugly.
We anchored at a pass on the beach where we frequently visit, and the tidal current going out was very strong - much more than usual, so we anchored parallel to the beach, about 30ft away. We know this place, so we knew it was very deep up to only a few feet from the beach itself.
Being a strong swimmer, I figured even with the current it'd be easy for me to swim the stern anchor to shore and bring the back of the boat in, even if the current pushed me well down the beach by the time I made it ashore.
Still, I tied a PFD to the anchor and put one on myself, and had my wife and parents feed the line as I swam (bitter end tied to cleat).
Well- the current was ripping so bad that I probably moved toward a beach a few feet when I was already 60' behind the boat. By the time the line ran out it was clearly hopeless. I was dangling behind my boat with an anchor at hand, the current having it's way with me. People on a nearby beached small boat yelled "good that you put those PFD's on!". My family started collecting the line as I also slowly climbed back.
The good thing is that it never became really dangerous because of the PFD's and the line I was holding (probably should have been tied to). And my parents (first time on our boat) instead of being scared, were impressed that we seemed to know how to take safety seriously.
The other good thing is that now we KNOW what a tidal current that is TOO strong looks like.
We anchored at a pass on the beach where we frequently visit, and the tidal current going out was very strong - much more than usual, so we anchored parallel to the beach, about 30ft away. We know this place, so we knew it was very deep up to only a few feet from the beach itself.
Being a strong swimmer, I figured even with the current it'd be easy for me to swim the stern anchor to shore and bring the back of the boat in, even if the current pushed me well down the beach by the time I made it ashore.
Still, I tied a PFD to the anchor and put one on myself, and had my wife and parents feed the line as I swam (bitter end tied to cleat).
Well- the current was ripping so bad that I probably moved toward a beach a few feet when I was already 60' behind the boat. By the time the line ran out it was clearly hopeless. I was dangling behind my boat with an anchor at hand, the current having it's way with me. People on a nearby beached small boat yelled "good that you put those PFD's on!". My family started collecting the line as I also slowly climbed back.
The good thing is that it never became really dangerous because of the PFD's and the line I was holding (probably should have been tied to). And my parents (first time on our boat) instead of being scared, were impressed that we seemed to know how to take safety seriously.
The other good thing is that now we KNOW what a tidal current that is TOO strong looks like.