Kayak Fishing Forums

t2thesizzle · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 51 Location: wilmington

full story...my dad was going over to carolina inlet with the 15 fter (pB) so i decided to go with him with my yak.

fish for a while and they beach it with the stern taking on little one footers as im paddling up, i tell them that their taking on water so they spin it around to head out. they immediately start to sink, within 30 seconds the entire out board is submerged. i jump in to pull the bow towards the beach and we barely got it to the sand. we're bucketing water out as fast as we can and get most of the water out.

the coast guard pulled up so we thought we were saved. they told us to stay there because they are calling a tow. I was like WTF were do expect us to go...not only does the coast guard not pull us to safety but they will not get out of their boat to help us...

So the tow comes about an hour later and says they are gonna charge my dad 180$ not too bad...pull to the dock and the guy is saying its 486$ ...im about to throw down with mister tow guy but my dad was being chill so i kinda relaxed.

final report: coasties can suck it, we didnt catch anything,and worst of all we lost 4 beers when the boat almost sank.

-T.C.

Dan A · Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 7

t2thesizzle · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 51 Location: wilmington

well they(my dad, mom and baby sister(2) beached the boat to look for shells and the boat was taking on wake over the back of the boat. so when they took off it sank...i helped my dad get almost all of the water out of the boat , at this time the coast guard pulls up and just sits there. they did not receive any other emergency calls because they stayed about 30 ft away from us the whole time. we amazingly got the motor started after being completely submerged, and since they wouldnt help us we tryed to get it going again(with just my dad on the boat) i pushed him out as the motor died and it sank a second time right in front of the coast guard but my dad and I were able to get it to shore again.

I think the least they could have done was get my mom and baby sister back to the main land and out of the sun since we lost all of our water bottles the first time we sank.

I didnt mean to be so crude to the coasties because they do save lives...but these particular gentlemen were not doing all they could do.

-T.C.

Truwriter · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 3

I hate that someone rags on the Coast Guard. You don't have to be around water too long until you know of a lot of stories of the CG saving lives and if you read any stuff or watch the weather channel, the lives of the CG personnel who are lost are lost because they are saving someone who most likely was stupid. CG does not tow boats unless its an emergency and you made no call. The CG is not allowed to tow boats unless its to save the boat or people. Its like the highway patrol changing tires. Do you want the cops doing service calls on the highway or controlling traffic. Might make you happy to have the CG come and fix your boat up and make you happy but there are only 33,000 CGs for the whole U.S. and I kind of hope they are out there doing the important stuff and not kissing up to the indignant. Was in a bar one night in Port Clinton OH on Lake Erie a few years ago and a pleasure boater started on the CG and a charter captain knocked him out. Just what was collected at the bar paid the fine and the lawyer fees.

deputy154 · Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 20 Location: Virginia

After serving in the Coast Guard for 22 years, I'll be nice...CG policy (which is largely set by Congress, the same folks who brought you FEMA) does not allow towing and repairs for convenience. Fair trade lawsuits in the 1980's prevent the Guard from competing with private towing and salvors, so if SeaTow or whomever is available and there is no IMMRDIATE threat to life/serious injury, the Coasties HAVE to stand off, but they can't leave. I can't tell you how many times I watched a commercial tow co. botch a rig or rolled someone over trying to go too fast and we ended up saving the rescuers!

Sorry that we can't be everything to everyone, we try our damnedest to keep some of the dope out of your neighborhood schools, fish dumbbutts out of the water, count and measure crabs in Alaska and Georges'Bank (home of the "Perfect Storm") inspect a ouple hundred freighters and tankers from other countries, and, oh yeah, we got a couple thousand men and women in Iraq right now escorting navy ships and tankers in and out of the ports.
Maybe that's why we're spread a litle thin around Wilmington.
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deputy154
A bad day fishing beats any day working!

Shep · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 69 Location: Clearwater Fl.

Little over 11 years in the CG here and still serving.
Let me assure you that Deputy is 100% correct with what he said.
I've seen it happen first hand several times while floating around up in Alaska.
On the up side though Sizzle, good to hear everybody came out of it with nothing more than a good story.
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yakfisher in training with a Tarpon140.

taekwondo · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 28

I support the Coast Guard 100%. I owned a 39' sailboat for a number of years. Although I sailed it many times, the one time I got in trouble the CG came out of the inlet, gave me a tow to shore. They do a hell of a job. Re towing, buy boat tow insurance. I got it from west marine, costs about 100.00 for unlimited towing, it is the best deal in town!

Henry