My oldest brother went fishing today on one of the small, local lakes.
He wanted to catch a bunch of bluegills (bream). September is HIS month for fishing. The barometer was dropping and he knew he would do well.
His wife usually goes with him, but she has the flu and declined.
My brother was getting ready to slip the 12th slab-side into the mesh fish-basket when a gust of wind caught a corner of the stern and flipped the boat over.
It was touch and go for a bit. He wasn't wearing his PFD. He got tangled up in the anchor rope. But big-bro is a steady guy. He sorted it out by untying the anchor and letting the rope slither around-and-through while he clung to the keel of the boat.
Then he got into his PFD and swam-towed the turn-turtled boat to shore but was unable to flip it back over.
His phone was soaked and in-op. He walked 0.8 miles to the closest neighbor and called his wife. She almost didn't answer because she did not recognize the number.
She called me. I might have fudged a little bit on the speed-limit on the way out there.
Big-bro was mostly dried off by the time I got there. He was frustrated because there were signs that he shouldn't have stayed on the water as long as he did. He was seeing waves breaking and the wind was about 15mph with gusts to twice that.
He lost his fishing pole and tackle-box and anchor and the 11 keepers that were in the basket.
Characteristic of my brother, he unhooked the fish that he was getting ready to put in the fish basket and let the fish go.
We are all very glad that it wasn't worse.
As humans, we like nice, tidy morals-to-the-story. I am not sure this story has that kind of message.
More than anything, mission-creep bit him, but so did the fact that so many atypical factors pushed him outside of his normal operating envelope. His bride was not there to counterbalance the boat and provide ballast. The wind increased in speed steadily through the day. Due to the wind-direction his normal fishing-hole was on the downwind side of the lake and out of the wind-break effect of the trees. Taken one-at-a-time they are not a big deal but today they were multiplicative.
And today, God was kind to my brother.
It is the little errors that pile up that will get you.
ReplyDeleteGlad your brother is safe. Y'all take care and stay safe.
Glad you brother is safe ERJ.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, more often it is a number of little things that add up, not a really big one. Although sometimes the big one simply pushes everything else over.
That was a good story.
ReplyDeleteUsed his head instead of panicking. Well done to your brother. And you can always bring up the time he almost drown his dumb ass self.
ReplyDelete