I LEARNED ABOUT BOATING FROM THIS ...34 | BOATINGMAG.COM | JUNE 2019SPEED AND TIMING PROVE
CRITICAL FOR SAFETY
This experienced boater was well-equipped...and lucky!WANTED: YOUR STORIES Share your boating mistakes and mishaps so that your fellow
boaters might learn from your experience. Send us your first-person accounts, including
what went wrong, what you’d do differently, your name and your city, to editor@boatingmag
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West Marine gift card.L
ate April marks the beginning of perfect weather for fishing
the bays, jetties and nearshore Gulf waters on the upper Texas
coast. The trout and reds are moving, and we have at least six
weeks before the brutal Texas summers limit fishing time to early
morning or very late afternoon. Normally, my fishing grounds are the
Galveston Bay area and the famous 9-mile-long North Jetty (reputed to
be the world’s longest jetty system). A small boat cut about 3 miles out
separates the Galveston Channel from the
Gulf side and allows small boats to fish the
Gulf without having to go to the end of
the jetty and around it. A distinguishing
feature of the Galveston boat cut is that it
is extremely wide, allowing for easy, safe
passage, which I have done many times in
my 22-foot Grady-White walkaround cuddy.
However, one day my friend and I were fishing out of Sabine Pass along
the Sabine jetties. Three other features that characterize boat cuts through
jetties are: 1) the current is quite strong, 2) fishermen like to anchor up
on the Gulf side near the cut, and 3) jetty rocks are on both sides of the
cut. Additionally, the Sabine cut is about half the width of the Galveston
boat cut. To traverse a boat cut is to line your boat up with the center of
the cut and then motor through at a reasonable speed, but not so fast as
to disrupt the fishing of those anchored nearby. So, I approached the cut(read: Galveston boat cut) at my
usual speed, though I had moved
to the port side to avoid a boat,
but then I found the current was
much stronger than I was used to
experiencing. Just as I entered the
cut, I had an uneasy feeling and
looked at my friend, who uttered
“You had better...,” but he didn’t
finish because the back end of the
boat was suddenly caught by a wave
and swept up onto a large, flat rock
on the side of the cut. We both had
sensed a loss of control just before
we got caught up, but I was not able
to react in time. We were stuck on
the rock, yet I didn’t dare cut the
engine lest we lose all control and
smash further into more menacing,
jagged rocks. I stayed at the helm
while my friend searched for and
grabbed a push pole that I hap-
pened to have, and with a monu-
mental effort, I was able to push
the back end of my boat off the rock
and motor back to deep water.
Later, when I pulled the boat
out, I discovered a bent prop and
subsequently found a damaged
lower- unit shaft. All told, there was
about $1,900 in damages. There
are several things I learned from
this incident. Always maintain suf-
ficient speed to ensure control of
your boat even if you might upset
a few fishermen; approach every
new situation with extreme caution
even if it seems like you are doing
something you have done before;
and always take a friend with you
when you go fishing.
John Paul
Lumberton, TexasWe both had sensed a loss
of control just before we
got caught up, but I was
not able to react in time.ILLUSTRATION:^ TIM^ BOWERI LEARNED ABOUT BOATING FROM THIS ...