10/1 - bad day - but it could have been much worse

[backman]

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One of those days that when you touch the dock you say "no one got hurt, nothing got broken, everyone returned safely - we had a good day".

Left the dock at 5 because I didn't want to run in the dark east of Monomoy this time of year. At 5:15 we ate a pot 5 miles out of the harbor. I was on the throttles fast and came down quickly but we were wrapped. Starboard prop; line going off to port. A quick touch of starboard reverse made it worse.

My plan was till wait till 1st light and go in the water. Jackson volunteered to go in the dark/5:30 AM, 64 degrees, 10 knot wind. Big ones!

I have a lot of safety equipment and plan for most anything and we needed most of it today. Wet suit, mask, fins, waterproof headlamp, life ring, glow sticks, extra lines. We took our time and put Jackson in the water ~ 5:45. He immediately cleared the line which was looped on the port prop at that point if all else failed we could get home on one engine. I was happy with that as that would have been my goal at 1st light.

Jackson and then Matt worked the problem, for 45 minutes and cut and worked 8 wraps out of the prop/strut gap. The pot had been doubled boobtrapped with a hog ringed section below the float which stopped the prop from cutting it off and worse, an extra line woven into the top 3' that contained staples. I was told by a pro from Dover that that was done so if someone hauled the pot they would get a staple in their hand. Frontier justice.

At 6:30 line cleared we cautiously powered up and after some palpitations on my end, continued on our merry way. We arrived late to the ball off Chatham but thanks to an unknown radio buddy knew exactly where the busting fish were. So did everyone else. they were small but they were busting good.

We gave it 1/2 hr then left. 1/2 mile outside we had a tuna which thought it was a white marlin window shop a bar once, twice, three times, looking and following but not boiling.

We worked out, found a coupl pods of fish on halfbeaks, had both long ballyhoo boiled on and missed by small fish. After some fruitless trolling we took a ride north then east. I saw a spotter plane way east and headed to it at speed to see what was going on.

Fishing Vessel at 41 44 69 28 This is the US Navy - you are entering a naval restricted zone, please change your course. At the time I was at 41 43/ 69 30 and wasn't sure if I was being addressed but sure as hell wasn't going any more east!

South a bit and then southwest and we saw a few busters we could not get on top of. the radio was slow for trolling but the meat bite for big fish boyz was starting. We had deliberately stayed away from the work zone because 1) we weren't invited 2) weren't welcome and 3) didn't belong with 50's.

At 2, 22 miles east of Monomoy I started working inwards.

In 180' - 41 34/69 34 - 20 miles east of Monomoy (pay attention!!) I saw a circular set of flashes and ripples that looked like a baitball on the surface, 200, 100 yards, 50 yards, 30, 20, "Larry stop" Jackson yelled and I saw a heart freezing sight - a grey floating gill net, in 3/4 of a circle about 20 yards across with the net going straight down. The flashes were bait in the net which apparently had lost its weights.

By some luck I had the boat in neutral 10 yards off but the momentum pushed the bow over the circle before I slammed hard into reverse and caught the boat as the floats passed 1/3 of the way under the boat before I got us out of there.

The props ate 1 ballyhoo rig, but so what; it could have been a lot worse! After the 2 seperate episodes I lost my nerve and couldn't put the boat on plane from down below.

I ended up running all 20 miles back to the point and 10 miles into the sound before cold and beat up, I retreated to the helm station to play lobster pot dodge ball for the remaining 15 miles.

One of those days when catching a fish becomes secondary to continuing to have a perfect record of my safe arrival count with all hands well and acounted for equaling my departure count.

[Col. Kurtz]

On a day like that, all I can say is welcome back to terra firma, Cap!

[Parapapam]

Guys,

Good safety planning and sound judgement displayed by the captain and crew. Hitting floating stuff out there happens. It is part of the game. Shake it off as best you can.

BTW, did you get the the whole ballyhoo rig out of the props? I wouldn't want the mono wrapped around the running gear. I volunteer Jackson to go look. Too cold for this old fart!

Mike

[GRBW1]

Larry, as one of the most well prepared skippers out there, I'm curious as to why you don't have spurs?

I'm guessing you've done extensive studying of the issue, and have decided that there is more downside than up.

Care to share?



As for Jackson, there is a bit of a downside to being the same size as the skipper.

[parmentj]

As for being on the skipjack, there is no downside...
Jackson

[JD5652]

Definitely one of those days B-Man....glad everyone made it home with everything they left with. There will be other days to fill the boat.....

[backman]

I do not have spurs because there is little to no space on a Carolina Classic shaft between prop and strut. ABYC says that gap should be no more than the shaft diameter, in my case 1.5". Its a known issue w/ a heavy boat and relatively small shaft that even less is better. There have been shaft breakage issues; self included on the boat as engine torque has gone up over the years.

In addition, when I repowered I actually asked Mac Privott of Carolina Classic about it; his answer was "run over them", st speed the props will cut 1/2" line no problem. As it turned out we cut the warp 20' down just fine but because the pot was armored with hog rings we didn't cut that at 3000 RPM's; it bound around the shaft instead and we ended up with 6 or 8 layers, the top layers loose by Jackson's description; the hog ring layer tight.

Two other notes.

First - I forgot to mention as part of the Bizarro day as we were coming back into Pollack Rip we saw what appears at 1st to be a 100' children's kite come at us. As it got closer it turned into a unmarked helicopter with perhaps a 100' of cable and a large circular net trailing. New approach to gill netting or part of the naval hush hush stuff going on in the deep water well past the lanes?

I also thought a bit more about more safety as I was going to be last night. One of those sailor safety harness and tethers is not a bad idea to add to the just in case arsenal. While my boat is small and its only 3' down and 4 in to the props, each time the diver was under the boat I was wondering "what do I do if they get caught?" We did put a docking line around their waists but the loop slid off as they went under the boat.

[Fissues]

Sorry Larry I know how it is, After goin under my boat three times this year I got a wetsuit and pony tank with a long hose to leave the tank in the boat while cutting. Then I ran into a floating gillnet and it was very handy.

[backman]

any links on the Hookah tank? The gill net encounter spooked me as that would have been unsolvable on the water without a tank.

[Fissues]

Just go to any dive shop and they'll make you a custom hose at any length. That and a pony tank, suit, regulator, weights and your all set.