Rainyday101
New member
The day started out bad, that should have been my first clue. I had a hotspot I wanted to take my boat to hit with the Tiger Shark. This was a sandbar in the middle of a 600 acre reservoir that is surrounded by cabins and a few permanent residents. I had some problems and got off to a late start. It was an hour drive and when I got there the boat landing was too shallow to use. I knew about where another landing was and about a half hour later I found it. Put the boat in and could not find the sandbar. I picked up my cell, called my wife and had her use Google satellite view to talk me to the spot. I described what I was by on the lake and she told me what direction to head, what to look for, and about how far. 10 minutes later I found it.
So it is a Sunday, it's about 45 degrees, water temp is probably around 50 degrees (best guess), wind is picking up, cloudy, about 1:30 pm, and the Green Bay Packers are playing. The Packer game is significant, because this means what few people haven't left their cabins for the weekend are indoors watching the game. It is lonely out there and cold. I am dressed with several warm layers and put on my waders and a wader belt. In a hurry to get into the water I pull the boat up to the shallowest part of bar which is 1 foot deep and throw the anchor out and tie off.
I started doing a grid from the shallow top of the sandbar to deep drop, and then back and forth. I used the cabins on the far shoreline for a reference going out to drop off and my boat for coming back up the drop to the shallows. The wind started to pick up. I noticed that my gridding was not going to great because I always seemed to keep coming back to the boat after I turned around. What the heck, I have done this plenty and can walk parallel lines. Anyway I turn from the boat and head back to the drop. I was busy scooping several targets and when I turned around the boat was floating off. I made a run for it and in a panic considered dropping all and swimming for it. Common sense got the best of me when a little water came over the top of my waders. I stopped and watched the wind blow my boat away. There I stood watching my boat drift off. I stood there and said four letter words to myself!
Now I contemplated my situation. I was dressed for the conditions and warm. Even with the little water I took over the top of the waders, I had a wader belt, and several layers so I was still warm. Most of the cabins were closed up, boats were up on shore for the winter, and nobody was around. The closest shore was about a 75 yard swim away and this was an island. The closest residence with cars in the driveway was about a 1/4 mile away, but nobody was outside. My boat had drifted past a point into a bay and was out of sight. That closest shore as an island, it was another 30 yards from the island shore to real shoreline. About 3/4 - 1 mile away was the far shoreline with a road going by. I tried waving a truck down going by the lake on this road. The road was uphill from the lake and for awhile he stopped and I thought maybe he had seen me.
My choices were slim. The Packer game was probably at about the beginning of the third quarter. I could wait till the game was over and hopefully catch someone outside. I was dressed warm enough this was a valid option. Another option was yell HELP!!!! In reality the only ones that would have heard that would have been downwind. My last option was to put my gear up on a shallow stump, drop the waders and a layer or two of clothing and swim. Earlier in life I spent three years in the 101st Airborne. I had survival training to include cold weather and water survival and knew panic was not an option. I am a very strong swimmer. Cell phone was in the boat. I was in no hurry to rush to a decision. I decided to wait about another 1/2 hour to see if I could see somebody outside to yell too. If that didn't work, I was gonna make the swim to the island and then land, walk the shoreline to the resident that was home and ask for help.
While waiting I saw a canoe round the point over a 1/4 mile away. They waved with cross hands and I returned the wave. They then turned around and went out of sight. I knew they knew my situation so I just waited. About 5 minutes later they rounded the point towing my boat. They had a hard paddle against the wind towing my 14' jon boat. After about 15 minutes they reached me. The first thing they asked me is if I was cold and needed to get some place warm quick. I thanked them and told them I was warm and okay and was dressed for the conditions. They had a cabin in the bay my boat drifted into. They were outside raking leaves and listening to Packer game on the radio before they went home for the weekend. They had seen me in my boat earlier when I was looking for the sandbar. I was the ONLY boat on the lake. When they saw the boat empty drifting they immediately knew something was not right. They dragged their canoe out, grabbed a rope, cell phones, and paddled out to my boat. The lady and her husband had a hunch this was not gonna turn out good. Before they dialed 911 they thought they paddle out past the point to see what they could see. They were quite happy to see me standing on the sand bar.
I thanked them again and again. I offered them money and they said no. They said it would not be right to accept money from someone who was in need of help. We chatted for about five minutes and they left. I hopped in my boat, headed for the boat ramp and loaded up.
Now what went wrong and how: First, being in a hurry started my problems and set me up for failure. When I anchored I was in a hurry. I anchored from the transom. This left the wind pushing against the transom. I should have anchored from the bow so the bow was facing into the wind. Being in a hurry I did not tie the anchor rope long enough. I was in a foot of water and the rope was tied so that it was only about 2 feet of rope from the anchor to the tie off. That was a bad mistake. When the wind picked up the waves lifted the transom up and the anchor. With the wind blowing against the transom and waves pushing against the transom, the boat was soon on it's way. to deeper water with the anchor just hanging. I also should have put my cell phone in a ziplock bag inside my waders.
What I did right. My wife knew where I was. I was dressed for the conditions. I did not panic.
In the end it was a lesson and an adventure. Not a total loss, I found a clad quarter!
So it is a Sunday, it's about 45 degrees, water temp is probably around 50 degrees (best guess), wind is picking up, cloudy, about 1:30 pm, and the Green Bay Packers are playing. The Packer game is significant, because this means what few people haven't left their cabins for the weekend are indoors watching the game. It is lonely out there and cold. I am dressed with several warm layers and put on my waders and a wader belt. In a hurry to get into the water I pull the boat up to the shallowest part of bar which is 1 foot deep and throw the anchor out and tie off.
I started doing a grid from the shallow top of the sandbar to deep drop, and then back and forth. I used the cabins on the far shoreline for a reference going out to drop off and my boat for coming back up the drop to the shallows. The wind started to pick up. I noticed that my gridding was not going to great because I always seemed to keep coming back to the boat after I turned around. What the heck, I have done this plenty and can walk parallel lines. Anyway I turn from the boat and head back to the drop. I was busy scooping several targets and when I turned around the boat was floating off. I made a run for it and in a panic considered dropping all and swimming for it. Common sense got the best of me when a little water came over the top of my waders. I stopped and watched the wind blow my boat away. There I stood watching my boat drift off. I stood there and said four letter words to myself!
Now I contemplated my situation. I was dressed for the conditions and warm. Even with the little water I took over the top of the waders, I had a wader belt, and several layers so I was still warm. Most of the cabins were closed up, boats were up on shore for the winter, and nobody was around. The closest shore was about a 75 yard swim away and this was an island. The closest residence with cars in the driveway was about a 1/4 mile away, but nobody was outside. My boat had drifted past a point into a bay and was out of sight. That closest shore as an island, it was another 30 yards from the island shore to real shoreline. About 3/4 - 1 mile away was the far shoreline with a road going by. I tried waving a truck down going by the lake on this road. The road was uphill from the lake and for awhile he stopped and I thought maybe he had seen me.
My choices were slim. The Packer game was probably at about the beginning of the third quarter. I could wait till the game was over and hopefully catch someone outside. I was dressed warm enough this was a valid option. Another option was yell HELP!!!! In reality the only ones that would have heard that would have been downwind. My last option was to put my gear up on a shallow stump, drop the waders and a layer or two of clothing and swim. Earlier in life I spent three years in the 101st Airborne. I had survival training to include cold weather and water survival and knew panic was not an option. I am a very strong swimmer. Cell phone was in the boat. I was in no hurry to rush to a decision. I decided to wait about another 1/2 hour to see if I could see somebody outside to yell too. If that didn't work, I was gonna make the swim to the island and then land, walk the shoreline to the resident that was home and ask for help.
While waiting I saw a canoe round the point over a 1/4 mile away. They waved with cross hands and I returned the wave. They then turned around and went out of sight. I knew they knew my situation so I just waited. About 5 minutes later they rounded the point towing my boat. They had a hard paddle against the wind towing my 14' jon boat. After about 15 minutes they reached me. The first thing they asked me is if I was cold and needed to get some place warm quick. I thanked them and told them I was warm and okay and was dressed for the conditions. They had a cabin in the bay my boat drifted into. They were outside raking leaves and listening to Packer game on the radio before they went home for the weekend. They had seen me in my boat earlier when I was looking for the sandbar. I was the ONLY boat on the lake. When they saw the boat empty drifting they immediately knew something was not right. They dragged their canoe out, grabbed a rope, cell phones, and paddled out to my boat. The lady and her husband had a hunch this was not gonna turn out good. Before they dialed 911 they thought they paddle out past the point to see what they could see. They were quite happy to see me standing on the sand bar.
I thanked them again and again. I offered them money and they said no. They said it would not be right to accept money from someone who was in need of help. We chatted for about five minutes and they left. I hopped in my boat, headed for the boat ramp and loaded up.
Now what went wrong and how: First, being in a hurry started my problems and set me up for failure. When I anchored I was in a hurry. I anchored from the transom. This left the wind pushing against the transom. I should have anchored from the bow so the bow was facing into the wind. Being in a hurry I did not tie the anchor rope long enough. I was in a foot of water and the rope was tied so that it was only about 2 feet of rope from the anchor to the tie off. That was a bad mistake. When the wind picked up the waves lifted the transom up and the anchor. With the wind blowing against the transom and waves pushing against the transom, the boat was soon on it's way. to deeper water with the anchor just hanging. I also should have put my cell phone in a ziplock bag inside my waders.
What I did right. My wife knew where I was. I was dressed for the conditions. I did not panic.
In the end it was a lesson and an adventure. Not a total loss, I found a clad quarter!
You should maybe keep that clad Q as a good luck charm! 
