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Jump Out Of Your Boat

Author: Fred Walker, 02/01

Five fluke in the box, the water was clear, and the sun was shining. It was a hot July day a couple of years ago at Barnegat Inlet, on the coast of New Jersey. This was one of those rare days when the water of the Atlantic Ocean was filling the bay with an incoming tide of crystal clear, almost Caribbean blue beauty. Life was good. That day my Dad and I were fishing in a deep hole on the back side of a sand bar, off of the main channel.

Navigating the waters near the inlet is a little tricky, and all of the local boaters know that there are a lot of sandbars, shoals, and shallow areas outside of the marked channels. For me the shallow areas are where I head to in the afternoon, clam rake in hand, to look for an excuse to play in the water. And, if I am lucky I bring home a dozen or two cherrystones.

For the unfamiliar, or unobservant boater the shallows are traps that cause many to run aground, putting a cloud over even the sunniest of days.

Not having a hit for sometime my mind was wandering, and I stood watching a big blue Bayliner coming toward us. "I guess this looks like a good spot to fish so here he comes" I thought to myself. Then it occurred to me "I wonder if he can see that sand bar?". Because, between he and us was about 14 inches of water on a 20 foot wide sandbar, and the tide was going to change very soon, making it even less.

A Bayliner is a fiberglass boat that is more of a floating camper in my opinion. With all of the comforts of home below, and very little deck space topside, these are luxury vessels, not fishing boats. The hull on this particular boat probably had a draw of 2 to 3 feet, with a deep V shape, and an inboard/outboard engine. If the skipper didn't turn soon, they were going to become one with the sandbar.

The skipper didn't turn. They ran squarely aground at about 20 knots. We could hear the grinding of the engine as they dug themselves in deep on that sand bar. The boat listed to the port side as it came to rest, gleaming in the sun.

After a minute or two of reversing his engine and using the prop to dig a hole in the sand, the skipper got out and surveyed the situation. He tried to push the boat, but one person wasn't going to budge that hull. Finally, the other two guys onboard came out to help him. We watched as they argued and screamed and pushed and examined the boat. They looked like the three stooges out there, and it was amusing to watch.

I was certain they needed some help, so I told my Dad to bring our boat up to the sandbar, and I jumped out. Now we had the four stooges.

A strange thing happened next. Soon, another boat pulled up with two more volunteers, than another, and another. Six young guys in a garvey all came over. Now we had a crew, with 12 or 15 people we had a chance of making a difference for these folks. We had to work fast because when the tide changed in an hour or so this bayliner was going to be high and dry.

Somehow, I got elected Forman on this job (the result of being there first I am sure), and after some convincing, I persuaded everyone to adapt my idea on how to get the boat off of the sand bar.

Most of the crew thought at first that the boat would go off of the sandbar the way it came on. There were two problems with that concept; 1. The outdrive was lower than the bottom of the hull, and dug itself in deeper when we pushed in that direction. 2. The tide was still against us from that direction.

To move the boat we had to use the tide to our favor. With 14 inches or so of water the Bayliner still had a little buoyancy. I had the skipper and one of his buddies go onboard. Directed to sit on the stern of the boat the two guys onboard worked as counter weights making the bow come up a little. The rest of us put our shoulders against the bow and pushed like a football team on a blocking sled. The bow moved, a foot or so.

Now the two guys onboard moved to the bow, with the counter weight shifted, we lifted the outdrive and shimmied the stern in the same manor. And so it went for 15 minutes or so, using the current, some ingenuity, and our group strength we shimmied the boat across the sandbar.

At last, with a final shove, the vessel was afloat in the deep hole that we had earlier been fishing in, on the back side of the sandbar. We were all high fiving each other, and celebrating our accomplishment when the skipper shouted from his boat "hey you guys is there anything I can do for you?" For a moment no one said a word.

I shouted back, "yeah, you do it for the next guy". A look of complete sincerity came over the face of the skipper, as he shouted back "you know, I will". In that moment I knew that the next time that guy came across a stranded boater he was going to be there to help.

A team pulled together on that sandbar. With a common goal, some creativity, and collective strength we accomplished something that was impossible for any of us to have done working as individuals. That sunny day, proved to me that when it comes to a team, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Jump out of your boat, you can inspire people to action.

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