It was beautiful last Sunday, so I decided to
head to my favorite poling spot on the Blackstone River. It has some nice moving water and a
couple of easy drops. I had poled
up and back five or six times when it happened – I hit a rock and did a "step-out" (fell out of
the boat). I watched in what seemed
like slow motion as the boat filled up with water and pinned against a row of
rocks. I knew there was no way I
was getting that boat out alone.
Fortunately I have a few friends (Jim, Paul, Tom and Steve) who enjoy a challenge, and we met Monday night to try to release the boat. Jim ran the lines – wrapping the boat
for rotation and setting up a 3 to 1 pull. We all grabbed the lines with anticipation and pulled ... nothing. The boat didn’t move. We tried setting the lines higher ... still
nothing. We pushed on the
boat and pulled ... still nothing. There
was too few of us, and too much water in the boat.
We knew we had to get some water out of the
upstream end, but how? Paul had
the answer – an old 2x8 that he used as a lever to lift the boat. Paul lifted, we pulled, and the boat
rotated slightly forward. Now we
were getting somewhere. We repeated
the process over and over, slowly rotating the boat forward. Eventually, Paul and Steve got bored
with this process, and they gave the boat a good push. Surprisingly, it swung out into the
current, taking Jim with it. The
boat was free.
Nothing was broken, but the bottom was warped
and the gunwales were bent. We
dragged it up on shore and I stomped on the bottom. It popped back into shape - amazing. There was a crease in the hull where it
wrapped and the gunwales weren’t as straight as they use to be. Other
than, that the boat was in good shape. I paddled it back to the put-in.
The moral of
the story is have patience, don’t give up and always have a few good friends to
help you out. Thanks guys.
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| Jim and Steve setting the lines |
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