How this site saved my life

[Bruce Freeman]

Well the short version is this, I was pitched off of the bow of my boat on Tuesday at Lake Onidea NY, (without a pfd) I went head over heels into the drink and found out several things. 1) Yes I can swim in my cold weather gear but not very well. 2)Bass Boat Saver is a great product but makes it hard to hold onto the boat with near frozen hands. 3) Reading here that working your way to the back of the boat, getting on the cavitation plate and lifting yourself and 40? lbs of wet clothing out of the water will save your life. 4) I will never boat again without my new sospenders on. Lesson learned, it happens so fast. A simple boat wake while my back was turned and I was reaching down to change rods. I was lucky that I was in 15 feet of water and was not hurt.



Thank You all for all of the information shared here.



BF

 

[Greg Meyer]

Very glad it had a happy ending...very!!!!

 

[Bill Hamilton]

Bruce - Glad you came out of the water OK. Don't want you to miss the next Not So Memorial Invitational! Darn wakes, anyway!

 

[fatrap]

My head hit a rock when I went in the drink last time. Now the State of S.Dakota is trying to get me to pay for breaking the rock.

fatrap



I'm very glad your safe.

 

[Tom W]

Wow Bruce that's pretty scary. Happy to hear you made out OK. I had it happen to me but in the summertime. Good to know you have Sospenders and will be wearing them, especially when fishing by yourself.



Tom

 

[ND Bass]

It happens Bruce...very glad to hear you're OK. Not a fun experience.

 

[firedog978]

Glad you are well Bruce. And, a timely reminder for all.

 

[Randy Walls]

Bruce I believe in Indiana sospendors are only good if you are wearing them. It is not enough to just have them in the boat! You must have them on at all times because they do not float until activated. At least that is what we were told at a pre-launch meeting one tourney!



Glad to hear your ok.



Randy!

 

[Thomas Macaluso]

I had something similar happen to me years ago fishing the Hudson in October . As I was pulling on the rope for the trolling motor my hand slipped and the momentum carried me overboard in full foul weather gear and hunting boots . If my buddy hadn

 

[Rich Stern]

Glad you are still with us, Bruce.

 

[Scott Allen]

I'm glad everything turned out OK!

 

[fatrap]

BUT Did you wreck your cell phone???

fatrap

 

[Berry Lindley]

It happens to the best of us. Seems like it has to be cold before you go over, never in the summer when you have shorts on......Great you are OK and remembered how to use the engine, that has saved me a lot of grief too.

 

[Dan J.]

Glad to hear it ended well. "Elevator up" with the outboard is a true life-saver. Take care.

 

[TrepMan]

Bruce - VERY glad you are AOK! Oh and on the SOSpenders, one more tip (besides Randy's of wearing them!! LOL) if they have gone off in the past remember to Re-arm AND put a new CO2 cartridge in! Mine went off in our floods (was wet from use and sat in a damp garage for a week, but did NOT go off in the rain which was great), and started using the re-arm kit, got the bobin replaced and got distracted and forgot to put the CO2 cartridge back in, cleaned up... Went fishing with them one time, after I got HOME it occured to me that I didn't remember puting a NEW CO2 cartridge in, and sure enough it was not there!



So now I added to my checklist to have the SOSpenders with me AND check to make sure it has all its pieces.



More importantly, very glad you are OK!

 

[Mark Jaworski]

Glad your OK Bruce, Ive had a few close calls lately.



Mark

 

[Bruce Freeman]

OK Yes my phone was trashed and had to be replaced, I got my sospenders because of the dip in the lake, I did not have them before. Thanks for all the well wishes I just wanted to remind everyone it can and will happen if you spend enough time on the water.



BF

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Darn Bruce, I missed this post but am sure happy you're still with us!! That's truly scary. I stay off-line for awhile and look what happens?.... Now, install a tilt switch on your motor or the rear of the boat somewhere so it can help lift you out of the water. I'm glad you're still with us my friend.



Uncle Billy

 

[Bruce Freeman]

I forgot to post the part where I used the trim motor to lift my soggy butt out of the drink and back into the boat. I tried and failed several times to get my feet on the cavitation plate before I remembered I had been fishing some skinny water before and had the engine trimmed up. Once I trimmed it down and stepped on I was good to go.

Now hind site being 20-20 I could have just swam to the dock I was fishing and used the ladder, but that thought only hit me when I was out of the water.

On the lighter side, as I was motoring out of the no-wake area (3/4 mile?) a guy in another boat ask if I had just fallen in? I said nope I was looking for fish, here's your sign... I may not be the brightest bulb on the tree but I still survive..



BF