Dinghy disaster avoided!

By Sailor Keddy -
Some locals have told me that this spring is the best run of striped bass (striper to those in the know) in decades. I went on deck three nights ago after sunset to check the anchor and all I could hear were huge stripers coming up to the surface to grab squid that make their way there at night. They made a huge splash and a gurgle sound as they swallowed them with a big helping of air. The next day is when I found out they were squid, and another local told me how to catch some. All I needed was a bright light and a squid jig. I took a quick trip to a tackle store and found what I needed. No squid that night though, but the light did attract a bunch of wormy things. My coworker Josh came over and we each had a line in with our backup frozen squid I got for $1 per pound at the fish market. We didn't catch a thing. Josh had to go back home, so I untied the dinghy. He was having trouble with his hook, so I thought I tied the dinghy off and turned around to help him. I thought wrong. The line to the bow of the dinghy slipped into the water and it slowly started to drift away. "Josh! Boat hook! Now!" He grabbed it and rushed up to the deck. I extended it and leaned overboard as it just drifted out of reach. It was drifting away FAST in the wind. He said something to the effect of this not being good and that we had to do something fast, but I was already below changing into board shorts. I told him to get the swim ladder ready, told myself aloud to NOT think about how cold this was going to be, and dove in. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it's a sign I'm becoming a little tougher since leaving a cushy desk job, but the cold wasn't really affecting me. I swam to the yet to be named dinghy and climbed on. Later, Josh mentioned how impressed he was with my speed in that whole process, board shorts to on board in less than a minute. I motored back to Winchelsea, Josh climbed on and I took him back to shore. This dinghy is not getting away from me like the two previous, mark my words.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Comments

Unknown said…
It may have helped that water temps are running about 5 degrees above normal for this time of year in some spots!
May 28, 2010 at 12:58 PM
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