Sea Stories and Tall Tales of the Seas by Forum Members

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by hoytedow, Dec 6, 2011.

  1. hoytedow
    Joined: Sep 2009
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    I thought I'd open this thread so you could tell of your adventures and funny happenings at sea.

    Please contribute only the ones that would be suitable for young people.
     
  2. Dirteater
    Joined: Oct 2010
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    Location: Canada

    Dirteater Senior Member

    Bears!

    When I was a little guy (7ish) my father would take me fishing a couple times a year on the "Salt-Chuck" as he called it. I remember what a special event is was. I would have to go to bed early as we had to get up at 3:30 am, have bacon and eggs for breakfast and head out to Horseshoe Bay to rent an aluminum boat with a motor. We would be on the water by 5 a.m.
    just as the sun was rising.

    I remember teasing with my Dad as little boys do. We were about a couple hours out from the harbour with our lines in the water and taking a sandwich break. I joked and said "Dad... are there any bears out here?"

    He look at me for a moment ... then said "yes there is"
    I laughed at his answer. then he said...
    bare arms, bare legs, bare backs ...
    I laughed even more. It was a moment with my Dad. (on the "salt-chuck")
    and I have never forgotten. God bless him.

    (i'm 50+ now)
     
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  3. thudpucker
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    thudpucker Senior Member

    Arriving at Bangor WA, from Southern MO, in the spring of 1946, my brother and I went off exploring.

    We found an Ocean Beach and a big Dock with holes in it you could fall through.

    From way out at the end of that hole filled Dock we spotted a Boat up on the Beach.
    It sure didn't look like it belonged to anybody.

    We dug in to dig it out.
    It was so far up on the beach the tide and waves had filled it with sand.
    No problem for a couple of farm kids. We dug it out and dragged it down to the water.
    We could only find one oar though.
    So my brother got a stick.

    Being farm boys, with a Creek handy, we never considered that big Ocean (Puget Sound) might be deeper than our creek.
    So off we went....one oar and a stick.

    Soon we noticed the shoreline was going by at a heckuva rate. Whoa up here! What's this?
    What'd a couple of farm kids know about Tides?

    We tried to make the Beach. We succeeded in making the boat go round n' round, but no closer to the Beach. I think we were headed to Japan but didn't know it.

    By now we are a couple of missing kids. Several hours have gone by.
    At that time around the beach way out of Banger there were still Cougars and Bears.
    My dad, and my Uncle who owned the place, neither one would go into those woods!

    The hunt is in progress. We had no idea about that though. We were way out in that Ocean and things were not looking good.
    Somehow we'd left the Beach and were way out in the Sound. Not even within Hollerin distance of the Beach.

    Soon we are exhausted and a bit distraught that our new Boat is filling up with water and we've no bucket. Or even a Hat between us. My brother was crying.

    I got up on the bow. Sat down right on the Prow with my feet dangling in the Water, and began to paddle for all I was worth toward the beach. First one side and then the other. It was good thinking but a wasted effort. There wasn't enough Horse Power on that one Oar.
    No doubt people were watching us with Binoculars but we didn't know that. Had I known, I might have put my shirt on the Oar and waved it as a Distress signal.
    Farm kids just don't know enough about getting lost at Sea.

    Right when I was about to give up and lay down in the boat, water or not, I was exhausted, some guys pulled up in a Boat.
    They asked us where we were headed. (Smart Alec!)

    I didn't know what to tell them. I didn't know where I was. So I told them were headed for home in Seattle. They began to laugh at us.
    Great I thought. A boat full of malevolent Pirates.

    But they put a bow line on our boat, took my brother into their boat with them to calm him down and towed me back to the Beach at the Dock where we'd started.
    The whole fam-damily was there.

    Well....you'd think there'd be a grand reunion with hugs n' kisses..right?
    Crap no. This is an Irish/Welsh family.
    My brother got the hugs.
    They both knew who to blame things like that on.
    By the time dad got done with me, I needed some drugs.

    But I was hooked on all that water and boating. Fish for Free. Crabs on the Beach. Lordy what a wonderful place I'd discovered.
    Still love it and miss it.
    Maybe I'll have my Ashes dumped off the Dock at Bangor.
     
  4. Leo Lazauskas
    Joined: Jan 2002
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    Leo Lazauskas Senior Member

    A group of us went camping and tried catching bream from the shore of a
    lake in South Australia. I showed them the correct trace and rig to use
    for bream, and not to try to jag the fish as soon as it bit.
    It worked well, but the fish dropped of the hook as soon as they were out of the water.
    Bragging about my cricket prowess, I told them that I could catch the fish
    by diving into the water just as they came off the hook.
    I didn't actually manage to catch one with my hands, but I learned a very valuable lesson.
    A good friend is a quiet fishing companion.
    A good wife is one who can help you remove a fish hook from your ******* with a pair of pliers.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2011
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  5. Dirteater
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    Dirteater Senior Member

    Just a note to say I really like the way the thread is going.
    kinda of a short story thing.
    I hope it keeps up! :D
     
  6. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    Back in the 1970's I was wading on a submerged sand bar dragging my Sportabout home-made folboat looking for shells when a fish shot through my legs followed in hot pursuit by a 4' long shark. I wasn't touched by either fish but it was an adrenaline rush. The area at Ft. DeSoto is known for bull sharks but I couldn't make a positive identification.
     
  7. Dirteater
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    Dirteater Senior Member

    Wow Hoyte :D

    nuts!
     
  8. thudpucker
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    thudpucker Senior Member

    I have another one from that era coming up shortly.

    The movie; "Bat 21" was actually a bunch of stories put together that made a Real Good book and a Passable movie.

    No telling what a creative writer could do with all our stories.
    I'm still waiting for PAR's 745 Mile trip to show up. :)
     
  9. Doug Lord
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    Location: Cocoa, Florida

    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Decisions

    I was about 17 and my family and I had just moved from Pensacola Beach to Mary Esther ,Florida(near Ft. Walton). I had to drive to school every day since my parents insisted-about 50 miles. When we first got to the new place I found a neat little 12' outboard that I fixed up-I think it had a 20-25 hp motor on it.
    It was fast and a real blast to fool around with. I used to jump tug boat wakes with it and went 90 degrees once! Fun! ( Lest you think tug boats don't have big wakes-think again).
    Decision 1
    I had a couple of buddies in high school and I broached the idea to them of taking the little boat on an "epic" journey up Santa Rosa Sound and across the bay to the Pensacola Yacht Club. I made some short runs and calculated how much fuel we'd need and got everything together.
    Decision 2
    The guys arrived late and one thing led to another and we didn't leave on schedule-about three hours late. Only a few hours of sunlight left.
    I (we) decided to go anyway even though that meant we couldn't get as far-since I didn't want to travel at night. No problem....
    Decision 3
    We left and it was great and we went to the point where the "ditch" at Mary Esther opened up to the much wider sound. Decided to camp on the Island instead of the mainland. Pulled in ,unloaded the boat and found a real neat little valley surrounded by dunes that was just perfect for camping. We started a fire and it had gotten dark and the stars were out-real nice. Then all of a sudden headlights came up to the top of the dune and two military police got out with guns drawn and ordered us to leave right then-before we ate-NOW!
    Decision 4
    So back in the boat and pissed off I pointed out it was only a mile to the Navarre Bridge and we could head there -or home and restart again another day. I(we) decided to press on-the wind had risen to about twenty knots from the west making the sound very rough. We had to go very slow and at one point got very close to a tug and barge. After clearing that we got closer to the north shore(3/4 of a mile out) and noticed that the gas tank we were using was floating upside down. I got one of the guys-with a line attached - up on the bow to watch for shallow water. Soon we found it-still way out from shore.
    Decision 5
    I(we) decided to unload the boat and camp overnight. But everything was soaked-from the toilet paper to the sleeping bags. But we stuck it out and went back home the next day-alive and thankful to be alive. I "enjoyed" the hell out of this small adventure but my two friends didn't-and their parents especially didn't! I had no idea the island there was prohibited-I never looked at a chart since I thought I new the area like the back of my hand. It was an unbelievably scary thing when those airforce guys came at us! And the tugboat in the sound was memorable...
    But it was our(my) decisions that got us in trouble. I'll never forget it......

    PS-thanks,Tom!
     
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  10. thudpucker
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    thudpucker Senior Member

    Doug, those parents are still blaming you for all the wrongs those other two got into.
     
  11. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Dems da brakes.....
     
  12. philSweet
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    Location: Beaufort, SC and H'ville, NC

    philSweet Senior Member

    Well, not exactly by a forum member, but lets just say its loosely based on an actual event.:D

    http://bwise785.angelfire.com/first_voyage/index.album/in-the-beginning?i=0

    If you get to the part where they think the bilge is full of diesel, read to the end, 'cause it wasn't. After 25 days in a S. Florida boatyard in August living on board, I was pretty fried. Barb did an amazing job visiting every weekend and doing all the goferring and keeping me alive while I got the boat back together and spent a hundred hours on the computer mid week finding suppliers and keeping me organised. The experience couldn't have been too traumatic, last I heard she married a boat broker.:eek: (But I've managed to hang on to the boat)

    If you think rereading your own travel journals is fun, reading your traveling companion's journals is way better.
     
  13. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    NOTICE: This is not a tall tale.

    What is disc-shaped, whitish in colour, 10-12 metres across, and appears about 5 metres down in the water column, under a drifting fishing boat, hangs there about 5-10 minutes, then rushes off at considerable speed when a crew member dives in to investigate ? 30-odd years after the event, I have no explanation. Cue spooky music.
     
  14. thudpucker
    Joined: Jul 2007
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    thudpucker Senior Member

    It must have been a 500 Lb Halibut swimming upside down.
    And who in their right mind would dive down to see what it was?
     

  15. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    10-12 metres across would be a 20,000 lb halibut ! There were just the two of us on board that day, I warned him against diving in, and often wonder what the police reaction to this story might have been if he failed to re-surface. Without a mask he saw nothing anyway, before it scooted away.
     
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