A Risk...and not knowing it

We live in dangerous times it seems. Uncertain times.

It reminds me of a time my wife and I set out on our boat across Lake Ste. Claire in Michigan in zero fog.

We had both visited one of my parent's best friends who had built a wonderful house on the lake, and we said we would stop by. We launched the center console 25' boat some miles away. The weather was calm, but there was heavy fog. It was navigation by compass and map (there was no GPS then), so out we went. It was dead-reckoning.

My father's best friend was a big time Navy man, and when we called he gladly gave us the bearings and times. To him, what we set out upon was nothing because it was only a few miles. And find it we did...in the fog. We stayed for a few minutes, admired their cool house, and then it was time to go.

For anyone who cares, we were in New Baltimore that night. And we needed to cross Lake St. Claire in zero visibility over to west of Harsens Island in Muskamoot bay...in the dark...and zero visibility fog.

I ran over a sunken sailboat that night, and had to jump in the water to change a prop, in the dark. Reported it to the CG, and we went on. Lots of rocks. Even my wife who is pretty tough on the water was spooked. Running 4,000 RPMs across the shallows, out into the freighter channels...where we finally met up with my friend who led us though the serious shallows to their island.

Sometimes, navigating in the blind is a pretty scary experience.

Just a story of life.

Man, we caught some of the most monstrous Walleyes out on that lake in some of the worst weather imaginable! We even sold the big boat, for a smaller one where we caught even more fish, BUT...I'll never forget that one night in the fog!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

That’s my neck of the woods, I live about 1 mile from Lake St Clair.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

You changed a prop in the middle of the night in fog on water?

Props to you.

Cool story.

a reply to: Liquesence

Yeah, it was a 250 HP outboard, and the really maddening part was I had just pulled the prop off earlier in the day to check it and grease the shaft. So, it came off really easy, plus I had two bait wells to hang onto while pulling out the cotter pin and put the new prop on (which was actually an old prop). Banged the crap out of a brand new stainless prop!! It happened fast too. I never even saw it until the engine bucked and I was like...UH OHHH!!.

CG said (on the radio) they marked it with an inflatable buoy, but someone else must have hit the buoy because it was sunk and about 50 feet away. When they said that (because I called it in)...we looked around and could see the sunken buoy underwater.

Cost me an expensive prop. The aluminum mast was no issue, but the stainless cables wreaked havoc on that prop!

We weren't even going fast either, just dead slow...and then **BOOM**!

ETA - actually broke a chunk out of the skeg on the motor too, and that really made me mad!!

a reply to: RazorV66

Me too...

a reply to: RazorV66

a reply to: mysterioustranger

Where this happened was just off Sand Point right off Selfridge ANGB. That was where we were going to turn southwest to cross the lake. As soon as we made the turn was when we hit the submerged sailboat mast. Prior to that we'd been hugging the east shoreline down from New Baltimore. Didn't want to cut straight across SSW from New Baltimore because there's some nasty shallows and shoals over there by Goose Island and you can't see them until you're on top of them. Get in there at night (and in the fog) up on a plane and you can't slow down else you'll go aground. And that's no fun when you can't see. Caught some giant muskies in those flats previously, so we were familiar with the area and didn't want to head through there at night in low visibility.