Joined
·
135 Posts
So I head out to the Cowichan River with my pontoon boat for another shot at some steel. I arrive at the launch at Stoltz pool and start ot set up my 9 ft. toon. Before I launch, 2 guys drag an 8 ft aluminum car topper down to the edge of the river and start attaching an electric trolling motor to the back end. I think to myself, this is a recipe for disaster.
I asked them if they had ever drifted the river before and they advised that they hadn't but that they were old boathands and that it should be a piece of cake.
I suggested that there were a couple of sticky spots downstream and that a car topper wasn't the best craft to try to negotiate the river in. The guy who owned the boat became a bit unglued and and said he was sick of #$%%ed locals who wanted to keep the river for themselves and that I should mind my own business.
Having said his piece, he and his buddy cast off and started inching their way downstream stern first with their electric trolling motor slowing their descent. About 75 feet downstream, they toook a standing wave over the stern and swamped. I ran downstream with my a spare rope from my pontoon boat and was able to get a line to them, when they fortunately snagged on a downed cedar tree at the site of the old boat launch.
They weren't injured but had lost their rods and the battery for the electric motor. We got their boat and motor out of the water and they left without so much as a thankyou.
I'm not a big fan of government regulation but after today, I'm thinking that maybe there should be some type of freswater boating certification. What does everyone else think??
I asked them if they had ever drifted the river before and they advised that they hadn't but that they were old boathands and that it should be a piece of cake.
I suggested that there were a couple of sticky spots downstream and that a car topper wasn't the best craft to try to negotiate the river in. The guy who owned the boat became a bit unglued and and said he was sick of #$%%ed locals who wanted to keep the river for themselves and that I should mind my own business.
Having said his piece, he and his buddy cast off and started inching their way downstream stern first with their electric trolling motor slowing their descent. About 75 feet downstream, they toook a standing wave over the stern and swamped. I ran downstream with my a spare rope from my pontoon boat and was able to get a line to them, when they fortunately snagged on a downed cedar tree at the site of the old boat launch.
They weren't injured but had lost their rods and the battery for the electric motor. We got their boat and motor out of the water and they left without so much as a thankyou.
I'm not a big fan of government regulation but after today, I'm thinking that maybe there should be some type of freswater boating certification. What does everyone else think??
