Rescue

Salar is now out of the water for the annual antifouling, so no fishing stories today. Here's one that I saved from the Summer, sorry I mean July, that was both a mistake and a lesson. I always think it is very handy to learn from other's mistakes, it saves the pain of having to make them yourself. Here's what I learned, maybe it will help others.

Anyone familiar with Langstone Harbour entrance will know that the area from the Ferry Boat pub to about 200 yards out to sea is where the jet-skis play, and they usually go out, make a noise for a while then go back to the pub. I was coming in from a fishing trip and I found one with two passengers on and a donut bobbing about with a third person in it. They had managed to get the tow line sucked into the jet drive. How? Beats me, these things are supposed to be idiot proof. Perhaps not all idiots are equal, as you will see.

Anyway, they needed a tow so I hooked a line through the tow-hole and pulled them in to the Hayling slip. Here is the mistake. I assumed these fellows had at least one grey cell between them but I should have told them exactly what to do and what not to do. I was towing, I was supposed to be in control. They asked me to get them as close to the slip as possible (they had no engine remember) so I nosed in carefully, then ran back to the stern to slip the rope and reverse out allowing them to drift in to the shore. Suddenly it was an "Oh S..." moment, those three muppets had jumped into the water and were happily splashing about...right by a contra-rotating prop driven by 164 galloping horses. What to do? I couldn't go back without making a large quantity of people-burgers, and forwards was into a hard thing, the slipway. With a lot of shouting and some very delicate maneuvering I managed to get clear of them, the rapidly shallowing bottom and the concrete slipway by mere inches.

Lesson - even if you are the good guy and helping people, things don't always go right by themselves. Make sure everyone knows what to do even if it is blindingly obvious. If it goes wrong it is still your fault. And what happened to the three jet-skiers? They were last seen heading into the pub.