Dad learned a big lesson this weekend

[irishfield]

I need to type this, so that it really sinks into my own brain as to just how close we came to disaster this weekend. Haven't had time for pictures..but may renew the thread later in September with those, if I remember. Just need to get this off my chest and hope it instills a bit of fear in others here....as we all need a kick in the shins once in a while. I've travelled this section of the lake many times now and have never seen it like this and with some recent members trips to the lake in power boats that would have been swamped in what we went thru Sunday, and others that I've heard of flipping boats over the last month I need to drive it home to myself if nothing else.

 

My 19 year old daughter wanted one last memorable trip, with her friends, before heading off to University in Ottawa for another year. Well she got it!

 

With minimal planning and a hasty departure for Temagami, from Midland, her and her 4 friends arrived at 2 PM on Friday. We picked them up at the marina and brought them back to the cottage after collecting a neighbours canoe for them to use along with ours. We feed them a meal...went thru all their stuff to see what they were missing...like a wind up flashlight..coleman lantern, firepit grill, etc and with the day getting late I offered to tow both EMPTY canoes behind the boat on 50 foot ropes. Best we could do was about 19MPH without flipping them and at that plow speed and the weight of 7 and gear in the boat burned about 25 gallons of fuel getting them to a nice site way up the North Arm of Lake Temagami and about 6 gallons coming back. "So what" I thought $180 to give the kids a vacation before hitting the books. We got them set up on a beautiful site at Devil Point where they could watch a beautiful sunset, paddle around the corner to hike Devil Mountain and do the other things 19 to 21 year olds do.

 

Leah and I left them when we knew they'd brought all their tent pieces and had a fire going to cook their supper and blasted down the lake at dusk, with that comfortable feeling all was well. They wanted to get the most out of their 2 days, so we made a deal with all of them that they were to be on the same point for pick up Sunday at 4PM OR CLOSER TO HOME at a couple other campsites... that we'd scouted on the way up.

 

Sunday comes and the wind is a tad brisk. When I say brisk I'm talking 20 GUSTING 40 MPH! I decided to leave a little early, as I knew it would be a LITTLE choppy going up the North East Arm for it's 12 or 13 miles...then 7 miles or so more up the North Arm with a South/East wind on our tail. Choppy didn't describe it...4 foot swells with 6 foot oddball waves mixed in. Best I could do from the Broom Islands to the Hub was 8 MPH, in a 22 foot boat with 275 HP on the back. We passed a 17 foot Glastron, similar to what I had last year, that was at best doing 2 MPH and tried to help him get in behind us and he couldn't do it...so we had to leave him to the elements...while we looked back constantly to see him finally make Ship Island safely. His boat was totally disappearing and thank god he had the full top done up.

 

While we pounded thru this nightmare I kept at the throttle trying to do the best speed I could, even with Leah flying off the captains chair more than once and putting waves over my full stand up top and up and under my bow cover like someone was hitting us with a firehose from the casting deck. I said 4PM pickup and I would be there at 4 PM even if I had to race over the tops of these things...and that's just because I'm one of those that ALWAYS has to be ON time....not knowing that my anal retentiveness would be life saver.

 

We watched the shoreline for the "kids" as we headed up the shoreline all the way from Kokoko Bay to Devil Point where we had left them. They weren't there! Deal was "pickup there or closer to home" so while I was trying to turn the boat around in 4/5 footers thankfully the wind took one more good kick at the freeboard.... as we went well past the point doing the turn and at the same time watched in horror as one of their canoes was flipped and the other swamped about 2000 feet up the shoreline NORTH of where they were supposed to be...not South. They had gone to Devil Mountain and realized it had a nicer campsite and moved. They were then smart enough to realize that I wouldn't be looking for them over there so were trying to get back to Devil Point for pick up.

 

Fully loaded canoes, three in one...two in the other and of course 4 out of 5 PFD less. Thank God I'm a time freak and all my kids know that, because if they had of been earlier and I had of been even 5 minutes later there may very well have 4 or 5 drownings in Lake Temagami on Sunday afternoon. I found out PDQ that a 2150 Baron will bridge a couple 4 foot waves at a time at 40MPH not caring if a shoal was in the way or not between us or them. I say possibly 5 drowning, as with most drowings... you hear of some parent going barrelling into the water to save their child and that was Leah before I'd even seen her depart ship.

 

We managed to get everyone in the boat...saved all their gear except for a lost pair of sunglasses, a small tackle box with a handfull of lures and my firepit grate. I don't know how...but everyones cameras and cell phones still work we plucked them so fast. I am not looking forward to seeing what the bottom of my new boat looks like when it hits the trailer later this month.... as we spent a good hour motors up and hull pounding on the "river rock" shoreline while we loaded everything and then ditched the canoes in the woods.

 

Going back down the lake wasn't as bad as we were going over the waves and not into them...but we were still busting waves over the cover and only managing about 20MPH at the best of times. Everyone was soaked head to toe from the swimming expedition, but "someone" was nice enough to at least make it an 18*C day or we would have had a serious hypothermia issue on our hands. Got back to the cottage about 7PM and stuck everyone into the hot tub to get core temps back up. Feed them, laughed a bit, cried a bit and then tucked them into the truck for the drive back home. Leah and I had to go back to the cottage and switch boats and then go back to the marina...putting us about an hour behind them in my truck...or so I thought. Guess that experience installed a bit of fear...as we caught up with them by the time we hit Parry Sound at 124/400 and my daughter usually has a heavy foot.

 

I still have to retrieve the canoes this weekend, if they haven't been stolen.

 

Total cost of this outing $180 dropping them off.....about the same getting them or more and another $150 or so to get the canoes this weekend. If they aren't there I"m out about 5 grand to buy the neighbour and Leah new canoes. All I can say is I made the right decission buying the boat I did, because if I had of had anything smaller it wouldn't be an ending we can laugh about for years. No matter the cost of the boat, the fact it got me there on time is priceless and even if we had of destroyed it doing so it would still be worth it. If I still had my 17' Glastron...well I think I'd have some funerals this week and some lawsuits on my hands, and I needed to share this so it never happens again to us or anyone on OFC.

 

Nobody will leave my cottage to go canoe or hike, outside of cell coverage......which is pretty much none existant from the Hub of the lake North, without a Satelitte phone. Having one would have saved this near tragedy, as they could have called from Devil Mountain and stayed put. They wouldn't have felt the need to get back to the pick up point no matter what the weather if they could have just called and said "we are around the corner at the mountain face".

 

Cheers,

Wayne

Edited September 7, 2007 by irishfield

[Joey]

Jeez Wayne, that must have been just an aweful feeling in the pit of your stomach, and probably still is.

 

All I can say is I am so glad everything turned out as well as they did under the circumstances.

 

Scary stuff indeed and thanks for reminding us all to be a bit more careful and put a bit more thought into things.

 

Thanks,

 

Joey

[Mike the Pike]

Ya pretty dam scary.Please where your PFD.Glad to hear everyone is A OK.MTP

[Greencoachdog]

I'm glad everything turned out well Wayne, but why were 4 out of 5 PFDless???

[irishfield]

We all had that invincible age Glen. They make good kneeling cushions.

[JustinHoffman]

Wayne,

 

A very scary read, but one that needs to be instilled in all of us. I'm glad everything worked out ok, and everyone is safe and sound. Like you said, it had disaster written all over it.

Stories like this need to be told every once in a while, because, sadly, accidents can, and do, happen. As outdoors folk, we often can become complacent with our actions, such as "forgetting" to wear out life jackets, heading out at dark without the required lighting, not ensuring we have enough fuel. Disaster can happen in an instant, and it can be life altering.

 

I had the "fear" put into me a couple of weeks back, as I was staying at a cottage on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. Out with a friend and her two kids (6 and 8), merrily trolling along for smallies. Well, the river got very nasty within seconds, with 4 to 5 foot swells, vicious whitecaps and gale-force winds. We were only a half mile from the cottage when I began to set off, but working against the waves (in a 14-foot boat) had each and every crest coming completely over the bow. We were soaked, the youngest was crying and I was just hoping to get the cottage as quick as possible. We continue on when all of a sudden "SMASH!!" I look over the side of the boat to see I'm sitting on a rock shoal, only two feet under the surface! Luckily I was in the frame of mind to shut the engine off the second I made contact, but I still tore a two-inch chunk out of one of the prop blades. Luckily, I didn't tear the whole lower unit off, as we then would of been in serious trouble. Yes, the shoal was marked with a white jug. Sadly, it was not visible in those white caps, and besides, we were a good 500 yards from shore.

We managed to get back to the cottage in one piece (except for the prop), and I was extremely thankful. I wouldn't of felt so nervous or worried if I was by myself (I have been in some pretty bad stuff before), but here I was responsible for a young lady and her two kids - It was my duty to get them back safely.

 

Thanks for telling your story, Wayne. The cost of a ruined boat or a stolen canoe is nothing compared to the cost of a life. I hope each and every member heeds your warning...

 

Good Fishing,

 

Justin

[huntervasili]

gives everybody something to think about... Glad things turned out Okay

[solopaddler]

Quite a story Wayne, very glad to hear everything turned out okay....

[evster]

I'm very glad to hear everyone ended up ok, I had a similar experience a few weeks ago when my parents got stuck in a massive storm in the middle of Erie. They were in a 35 footer but the waves were upwards of 12 feet and the winds ripped off one of their tarps and a bench off the back of the boat. They new the boat could do it but it definitely made them fear for their lives. After some of the things that have happened this year I will always wear a PFD especially if the winds pick up.

 

Again, I am sorry you had to experience this but glad everyone made it through.

[Greencoachdog]

There's also a lot to be said for keeping a close eye to the weather in situations such as this!

[seansmith_smith]

Wow Wayne, thats quite a story. Glad to hear everyone came out of it just fine. I've had some hairy experiences in choppy water, but nothing quite like that sounds. I hope that, with the reminder of lessons everyone got, that you will let people leave your cottage without a cell phone; planning and boating safety can go a long way. I'm sure there are alot of great things to see and do that are out of cell range in your area. Although, I know the feeling of wanting to get to a certain campsite, or pick -up spot and having that play against better judgement.

 

Either way, a great read, and a great reminder about safety. Thanks for sharing.

 

Smitty

Edited September 7, 2007 by -Smitty-

[fishindevil]

WOW !!!! wayne thats a close call.. ..man im glad everything was ok,as it could have been a terrible ending...and yes you are right about a lesson to be learned...PFD,s SAVE LIVES...thats for sure,i would have thought in that bad of conditions that someone would have said lets put our lifejakets on....well im glad things are ok,take care...and welcome back we havnt heard from you in a while,

[irishfield]

I think they'd started with the PFD "install", as the one in the middle had just put hers on before they were flipped...the others were paddling to stay afloat and if they had of stopped to put theirs on would have been flipped too. They'd come out of a nice sheltered area and by the time they realized what they were into it was too late to turn around...all they could do was try and keep their bow into the waves. I'm pretty positive they'll all wear them next time they canoe.

 

The whole thing was TOO rushed. No extra day for weather...had to be home Sunday night... as we left Monday am early with a trailer full of furniture and supplies so she could make a class 8am Tuesday. This will be the main thing next time...day out for weather...no rushed trips and you're right Smitty, we all lived before the age of cells and sat phones. I hate them both too and make maybe one call every 5 months on my cell. It's just in this case of a rushed, unplanned adventure a sat phone could have been a life saver as well.

Edited September 7, 2007 by irishfield

[PERCHER]

I am glad to hear that ever body is home safe and sound.Thank God for that big LUND.Dan

[bbog]

Sounds like quite an adventure WITH a happy ending. I'm sure it will turn out to be a valuable life lesson - thanks for sharing.

[DT10Sam]

Wayne, glad everything turned out alright. I can relate to the scared feeling that you went through...........very glad the ending is not a sad one.

 

Regards,

Sam

[Ron]

As you said Wayne, laugh about it now.... Man, I'd still be dumping bricks. Everything else is just money, the kids are ireplaceable. Glad to hear a happy ending bud.

[fatherof3]

glad to hear everyone is ok and a lesson learned

[danbouck]

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad everyone is alright.

[Dondorfish]

Glad to hear that all turned out for the best! As you said - maybe we could all learn a lesson for your mishap. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

Don

[Tarzan's Jane]

I was getting a little nervous reading it, wondering when the bad news was coming and if I should continue to read. What a relief....as a parent I know what that kind of fear feels like...you won't be forgetting this one. You all were very fortunate and that is a blessing. Lessons learnt for sure and at the same time a bonding like no other.

 

See guys....you must always be on time!!!

[Terry]

scary stuff

 

glad it all worked out...wow things you don't even want to think about

 

hope the canoes are there

[Whopper]

I'm glad everything worked out for everyone involved Wayne. It looks like your investment in the big boat already has payed dividends. Like Ron said material items can be replaced but our children "ireplaceable".

I'm sure the bottom of the boat will always be a reminder.

 

Whopper

[OhioFisherman]

4 Kids myself Wayne, I know how scarey that must have been. If the kids are ok then everything is!

[Roy]

Wayne, I could feel the fright in Leah's whole self reading that story. I can't even imagine another outcome to that near miss. Another learning experience is right.