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Inspirational fishing story
Well this is a true yet amazing story of my good mate 'uey' losing one of his 9 lives on a reef trip up here in tropical far North Queensland.
He and Dave were out past Russell island in their centre console run-about on the outer reef having the time of their lives using Eco gear lures and almost bagging out on trout. But Then the weather took a turn for the worse.
Being the keen fisho's they were, they fished until the winds had come right up and the tropical thunderstorm was almost overhead.
With their tails between their legs they decided it was time to err on the side of caution and head home, albeit a touch late.
The ride home was rough to say the least, with the boys clinging to the centre console squinting into the driving rain and bracing as each wave hit sending barrages of water into the boat. The bilge pump was running flat out and may have been instrumental in saving their lives later on.
About 45 mins into the savageness of Mother Nature things suddenly went wrong.
The boat had quickly surfed down the backside of a particularly large wave and buried the nose in the face of the next on a very acute angle. This sent the boat viciously hard right throwing uey left into Dave who had momentarily lost his grip. Dave said it felt like he had been tackled by the entire qld state of origin squad.
Both the boys went overboard, somehow missed being annihilated by the prop by millimetres and sheer luck, came up coughing and spluttering.
The boat continued pounding into the fray, the kill switch was not being used, they had nothing but board shorts on.
Treading water, The situation was dire to say the least.
In a moment of utter disbelief dave heard uey chuckle the words ' well, we are proper f%#*d now!' The sound of the outboard became fainter, only the rain,wind, thunder and lost hope begain to become reality.
He reckons those words will be etched into his memory forever.
This was it. No way are we being rescued they thought. They were halfway between the reef and Russell island, impossible to swim to.
They could see the boat had turned slightly and was struggling into the storm.
As they watched, in hopeless curiosity the boat began doing a huge circle, getting tighter and tighter as the steering wheel went into the full lock position.
Uey decided to go for it. The swim was about 500meters. The swim was excruciating.
Finally he got close, by now the boat was churning tight circles and had taken a full load of water through the transom cable penetrations.
He had a sobering choice, try to grab the outside of the boat and risk having his legs dragged under the prop, or get the timing right, swim into the centre of the circle and try to grab the short bit of worn out rope hanging off the nose, he chose the latter.
As the boat tore past he swam furiously into the circle, now what? He had one chance.
Swimming into the path of a huge tinny with 100 horse power of death behind it is not everyone's cup of tea. But what choice did he have?
The rope was slippery but he held with superhuman strength, he tried to swing his body round to the low side but the boat threatened to capsize.
Lifting himself carefully up on the high side with the last of his strength he made his way to the console. Exhausted and in knee deep sloshing rolling water he knew that he had to reduce the engine power and straighten the boat. But it was harder than he thought and threatened to bog down further, sinking it.
With full power he straightened it up watching water pour over the stern.
The bilge pump was still amazingly working.
He had no idea what direction he had gone, for how long and was disoriented with all the circle work.
Where was Dave? Was he still alive?
Using the islands and compass he went back for Dave.
Trying to bury dark thoughts he searched. Dave was due to get married soon. How could he possibly live with that?
Suddenly, at first he thought it was debris, maybe a floating coconut, but then it waved!
Dave was alive! He pulled him In, Dave couldn't move, he was about to give up when he heard the outboard.
They limped back to the mainland swearing not to tell the bride, until the speeches on the wedding day!
What a day that will be.
Always connect your kill switch to your person, it may save your life.
Well this is a true yet amazing story of my good mate 'uey' losing one of his 9 lives on a reef trip up here in tropical far North Queensland.
He and Dave were out past Russell island in their centre console run-about on the outer reef having the time of their lives using Eco gear lures and almost bagging out on trout. But Then the weather took a turn for the worse.
Being the keen fisho's they were, they fished until the winds had come right up and the tropical thunderstorm was almost overhead.
With their tails between their legs they decided it was time to err on the side of caution and head home, albeit a touch late.
The ride home was rough to say the least, with the boys clinging to the centre console squinting into the driving rain and bracing as each wave hit sending barrages of water into the boat. The bilge pump was running flat out and may have been instrumental in saving their lives later on.
About 45 mins into the savageness of Mother Nature things suddenly went wrong.
The boat had quickly surfed down the backside of a particularly large wave and buried the nose in the face of the next on a very acute angle. This sent the boat viciously hard right throwing uey left into Dave who had momentarily lost his grip. Dave said it felt like he had been tackled by the entire qld state of origin squad.
Both the boys went overboard, somehow missed being annihilated by the prop by millimetres and sheer luck, came up coughing and spluttering.
The boat continued pounding into the fray, the kill switch was not being used, they had nothing but board shorts on.
Treading water, The situation was dire to say the least.
In a moment of utter disbelief dave heard uey chuckle the words ' well, we are proper f%#*d now!' The sound of the outboard became fainter, only the rain,wind, thunder and lost hope begain to become reality.
He reckons those words will be etched into his memory forever.
This was it. No way are we being rescued they thought. They were halfway between the reef and Russell island, impossible to swim to.
They could see the boat had turned slightly and was struggling into the storm.
As they watched, in hopeless curiosity the boat began doing a huge circle, getting tighter and tighter as the steering wheel went into the full lock position.
Uey decided to go for it. The swim was about 500meters. The swim was excruciating.
Finally he got close, by now the boat was churning tight circles and had taken a full load of water through the transom cable penetrations.
He had a sobering choice, try to grab the outside of the boat and risk having his legs dragged under the prop, or get the timing right, swim into the centre of the circle and try to grab the short bit of worn out rope hanging off the nose, he chose the latter.
As the boat tore past he swam furiously into the circle, now what? He had one chance.
Swimming into the path of a huge tinny with 100 horse power of death behind it is not everyone's cup of tea. But what choice did he have?
The rope was slippery but he held with superhuman strength, he tried to swing his body round to the low side but the boat threatened to capsize.
Lifting himself carefully up on the high side with the last of his strength he made his way to the console. Exhausted and in knee deep sloshing rolling water he knew that he had to reduce the engine power and straighten the boat. But it was harder than he thought and threatened to bog down further, sinking it.
With full power he straightened it up watching water pour over the stern.
The bilge pump was still amazingly working.
He had no idea what direction he had gone, for how long and was disoriented with all the circle work.
Where was Dave? Was he still alive?
Using the islands and compass he went back for Dave.
Trying to bury dark thoughts he searched. Dave was due to get married soon. How could he possibly live with that?
Suddenly, at first he thought it was debris, maybe a floating coconut, but then it waved!
Dave was alive! He pulled him In, Dave couldn't move, he was about to give up when he heard the outboard.
They limped back to the mainland swearing not to tell the bride, until the speeches on the wedding day!
What a day that will be.
Always connect your kill switch to your person, it may save your life.
