BajaNomad

How not to retrieve your boat

Santiago - 10-11-2011 at 06:44 AM

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Take a close look at the above photo and you will notice that my boat is down stream of the the trailer and not in the water. I'm sure certain elderly folks in camp are still talking about how stoopid I was in trying to retrieve the boat in a very stiff north wind and three foot chop, and I would completely agree with them. Here's how this happened:
Friday of last week was our last full day in camp and my son wanted to try to get to Bahia Animas, south of BOLA, to see if we could catch up with the rapidly southbound dorado fleeing the drop in water temps that week - from 82 degrees the weekend before to 77 degrees by the end of the week. The previous day's west wind had turned into north wind and by noon, the main channel was full of white caps. We left Animas about 1:00PM, an hour after high tide, and headed upstream for the 20 mile slog back to camp. Crossing the 4 miles of the south bay was bad; very stiff wind with 3 foot rollers and the occasional 4-5 footers - not fun. This, of course, breaks at a 45 degree to the "launch ramp" at Gecko. I'm sure you can visualize the complete impossibility of trying to drive the boat onto the trailer in shallow water as the waves break on the outside rear corner and push the boat around. Three men and two women could not keep the boat off the beach. We even tried to winch it on using the trailer winch and ropes but only succeeded in seriously injuring my right hand when the ratchet on the winch failed and the handle pulled out of my hand and whacked the back of it. Will find out from yesterday's x-rays if anything is seriously damaged. See photo below.
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General fishing for last week saw Oct 2 as a typical early Fall; calm seas and 82 degree water and dorado still in the south bay and the inner islands. On Monday the west wind started to blow, sometimes hard and sometimes not, off and on for 4 days and then the northern wind on Friday. The temps dropped into the high 80s with cooler nights and the water dropped to 77. We still saw some dorado on Friday in the inner islands but not near as much as earlier in the week. Slow trolled live bait is best; but small blue/white feathers and small lures will work. The bait balls are very small, maybe 2" fish at most and some small flying fish are around. We never saw a single whale and only a few dolphin; whale sharks were abundant.

Paulina - 10-11-2011 at 07:03 AM

Another exciting adventure for you! I hope your hand will be ok. Were you able to take photos of BB's place?

P>*)))>{

Skipjack Joe - 10-11-2011 at 07:16 AM

So what were your options in wind like that? You could have waited at San Juan Cove but sometimes it blows for days.

It's been raining 3 days now. Some of this weather must have pushed down into BCN.

I've been smacked by that revolving winch more times than I can remember. You never get used to it.

bajabass - 10-11-2011 at 07:17 AM

Been there, almost done that!! Same scenario, El Sargento a couple weeks ago. Glass in the morning, 2-3ft chop, 10mph wind at pull out time. Got lucky and hit the trailer bunks first shot. Hope the "Pacifier" helped the hand.

Barry A. - 10-11-2011 at 08:16 AM

Ouch!!!!

My trailer has heavy-duty upright guides on both sides of the trailer so that as long as the bow hits the trailer between those two rear "guides" it will power onto the trailer, no matter the cross wind. You have to be brave and come in under pretty good power and be prepared to apply rear thrust at the very last min. but it does work. I love my "guides" on the trailer, and they even provide security from the boat bouncing around sideways on the bunks on bad roads.

The really tricky part is not to overrun your trailer with the boat while powering onto the trailer. It takes practice----------:o

Barry

Norm - 10-11-2011 at 08:26 AM

You are very lucky !!!! I have seen the boats come in up side DOWN .... Hope you are getting better now .

motoged - 10-11-2011 at 08:45 AM

So....how did you eventually get the boat up ?

[Edited on 10-11-2011 by motoged]

Santiago - 10-11-2011 at 09:06 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by motoged
Sos....how did you eventually get the boat up ?

10:30pm tide floated the boat, calm wind, no problemo.

Lots of discussions on options;
1. do what the Baja Catch says to do: have a very good anchor and use it out beyound the beach break and float in with your life jacket on. Swim or Kayak out after the wind dies down.
2. Run it up on the sandy beach which is on the other side of the ramp and push it out when hightide comes 10 hours later.
3. Have your buddy swim to shore, drive the trailer into town, drive the boat 4 miles into the chop and use the protected ramps.
4. A long-time camp member said she has done the following with their boat in similar waves/wind: she positions herself upwind from the boat with two ropes, one tied to the bow the other to the windward aft and like a puppet master, uses these two ropes to guide the boat onto the trailer. I can visualize this process but don't see how you could actually set it up with the wind and waves and speed you need - just not enough time it seems to me.

Also, this ramp, and I use that term loosely, does not allow powering onto the trailer except at the very highest tides - the slope is very, very minimal and you must raise the prop so high you begin to loose steering and power. Just the way it is.

[Edited on 10-11-2011 by Santiago]

Barry A. - 10-11-2011 at 09:55 AM

Shallow, gradual-gradient "ramps" are a real problem, for sure. My "power-on" methods don't work well under those circumstances.

I like the "puppet master" scenario outlined above if you have more than one person, lots of rope, and it is set up ahead of time------a nuisance to do for sure, tho.

That rocky beach & ramp pictured would make me very nervous and would necessitate using the "tin boat" method out lined in the book, "THE BAJA CATCH" it seems to me. Anchor off shore using a long 'reach' on the rope until the seas and wind calm down. (I would use two anchors). The ramp area could be much more usable if there was a permanent anchor established off-shore with a bouy attached for boats to tie off-to in stormy weather. The first thing I always did when camping for a week or so on some remote beach was to establish a "secure anchor and bouy" off shore to take care of this situation when it happened. (Yes, you have to swim into shore, and out to your boat in the morning). That was the fun part. :lol:

There are other ways to accomplish this "safe anchor point", but they are complicated and require some forethought and material.

(just some thoughts off the top of my mind.)

Barry

David A. - 10-11-2011 at 11:22 AM

When the wind catches me off guard during the winter months, someone on the boat always gets wet and they will have to drive the truck and trailer 4 miles into town. Once in town, the boat is put on the trailer and it's cold ones for all.:lol: I hate having to watch my boat until the wind dies down. :no: Those rocks are nasty!

bajabass - 10-11-2011 at 11:37 AM

Hopefully no serious damage to your boat. I bought a Triumph for that exact reason!!

Pompano - 10-11-2011 at 12:18 PM

Not much else you could have done, Santiago. Been there myself...and more than once...in storm conditions and thought that while my life was worth more than the boat, you still do what needs to be done. I've banged my hand on a back-spinning winch handle, too...smarts real good.

In one of those similar incidents, we got caught in a helluva storm a lot time ago when fish/camping in the northern boondock lakes of Canada. Nothing but rocky shores all around us..so I motored in close...and then all elected ME to go ashore to pull down some fallen logs for a makeshift ramp..then my amigo drove it up, pulled the motor.. and we hauled my Lund 16 far enough ashore to be safe.

We spent 4 days waiting out the storm winds there, but the fishing was great!

Ain't Boating Just Great!


Paulina - 10-11-2011 at 01:05 PM

The next time you're down there take a look at the beach in front of our place. We launch there with minimal issues. You are always welcome to check it out and use it if you'd like. Saves the 4 mi. drive into town. We also usually keep a set of airstrip ramps on the patio "just in case".

P>*)))>{

Hook - 10-11-2011 at 03:18 PM

I like option #2, of your four.

Barry A. - 10-11-2011 at 04:56 PM

Yes, Hook, #2 is an option, but what do you do when the Sierra are running and you can't get your boat in the water to chase them? My boat is too heavy to man-handle off the beach, and they will be gone by the "next high tide". :o

Barry

woody with a view - 10-11-2011 at 05:47 PM

glad to see that one is off the bucket list with only a minor injury!:light: sand is your friend, but i guess hindsight is 20/20....

vgabndo - 10-11-2011 at 05:47 PM

I have run my 16 footer, quartering downwind through the whitecaps, with four inches of water sloshing around my feet, right up on the beach at San Nicolas'. Hitting a trailer would have been WAY too time consuming! Naturally, two seasoned citizens couldn't pull it high enough to prevent the breaking waves from filling it to the transom. The weakest link later, even after endless bailing, turned out to be the bow pintle, and so it goes. I'm glad the ocean let you keep your pretty boat intact! :bounce:

AmoPescar - 10-11-2011 at 10:02 PM

Santiago...

OUCH...hope your hand will be okay!

Sorry you had a problem...that nasty wind can really be a problem!

On a trip to the East Cape, a hurricane was looming and they were taking all the Pangas out of the water. As sad as it was to watch them struggle, it was also pretty humorous to see them fighting the wind and waves. Mother Nature was just not cooperating!

Might be time to switch to a TRIUMPH. They're supposed to be almost indestructable!


Miguelamo :light: :yes: :spingrin:

Pompano - 10-12-2011 at 03:01 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by AmoPescar
Santiago...

OUCH...hope your hand will be okay!

Sorry you had a problem...that nasty wind can really be a problem!

On a trip to the East Cape, a hurricane was looming and they were taking all the Pangas out of the water. As sad as it was to watch them struggle, it was also pretty humorous to see them fighting the wind and waves. Mother Nature was just not cooperating!

Might be time to switch to a TRIUMPH. They're supposed to be almost indestructable!


Miguelamo :light: :yes: :spingrin:


We're hoping your hand heals quick too, Santiago. That was quite a story and very important info for whoever is boating Baja. Thanks and sorry about all the difficulties.

Miguelamo:

Triumphs are well-built boats...non-sinkers, like Whalers and McKees...all good Baja choices. I especially like the 21' Triumph......but... sooo many boats ...so little time.

Bob and Susan - 10-12-2011 at 05:06 AM

i'd get a 19 triumph///

Pescador - 10-12-2011 at 05:09 AM

Shoot, Santiago, if you were to just watch the Triumph videos, you don't need no steenking trailer. Just hook the boat to your car and drag it home.:spingrin::spingrin::spingrin:

bajabass - 10-12-2011 at 05:28 AM

Yup! Rocks, trees, cars, you can bounce them off of anything!!!

Santiago - 10-12-2011 at 07:41 AM

As best as I could tell, there was no damage to the hull; even the thru-hull fitting for the bait-tank intake was OK. The beach it was on had small rocks, about 6", with a few larger ones in the 12" range and we put 2X4s underneath to keep it from rocking. Also, it was at a time when the tide was dropping fast, I would guess in about 15 minutes the tide was at the bow. My boat is a FishRite, made in southern Oregon, with a thick hull of .19" and the sides are .125". The founders of FishRite were from the factory of Alumiweld and left to make aluminum driftboats which live in skinny water and are assumed to bang on river rocks. They later developed a reverse chine hull for open water that works well in typical Baja chop. At 18', the hull weighs 900 lbs, is rated for 135 hp and carries 39 gallons of fuel.