I guess every one has gone too far pursuing thier quarry. So I'll tell this story ( it really happened ) and maybe some of you will tell yours.

Once I wandered far to sea in my small boat (the 'frog', it was 30 years old and 14 ft long). I had a jug of water, a sandwich, 12 gallons of gas and some fishing tackle. West and further west, looking for the diving birds and salmon. I didn't know much about the Ocean then. Too stupid to be scared and to full of myself to give up. With only a compass, a VHF radio and a sense of immortality I searched for silver salmon. About 11 miles from shore I found them and quickly caught my limit. As I said, too stupid to be scared. While I was heading out, the fog covered the mountains, the coastline and all of my landmarks. At sea level you can see the horizon at seven miles.

Still feeling immortal I turned around until the compass read 90 degrees and ran to the east. As I approached the coast I realized my folly. It was Depoe Bay I searched for. The landmarks I needed were buried in a blanket of white. The things I did not know conspired against me. The summertime 3 knot Davidson current was one of these. A steady river of ocean from the north, it had pushed me some 18 miles south of Depoe Bay during my transit. The magnetic offset on the compass was another, I was really going East South East at about 100 degrees not 90. I got close to the beach and heard surf on sand, I could only see 100 ft. When the sonar said 18 ft I spotted breakers curling into the sand. I had just enough time to hit reverse and back the boat off the next breaker.

Now I started to know my situation. There are no sand beaches near Depoe Bay north or south of it for many miles. I was well and truly lost. I ran west until I cleared the fog bank. Although the sun was comforting and the day calm, I was not. Thinking about survival I picked up the gas can, it was light, only a gallon or two left. Shutting the boat down and drifting further south I picked up the radio mike and called out on channel 16, 'Coast Guard, Coast Guard, fishing vessel 'frog' requesting assistance, declaring an emergency'. They responded immediately and wanted to know where I was. Well, this was the whole crux of the matter, I didn't know where I was and explained this to my would be rescuers. They agreed to search and find me and told me to stay put. Yaquina bay was 3 miles to the South East and I had no clue about this fact.

I could hear the helicopter to the East and called again, explaining what I had discovered. As this happened the fog built further offshore and visibility went away. They told me they were from Newport and I realized what had happened. Although I could not believe it I had drifted while trolling all the way from Depoe Bay to Newport in the space of a few hours. The beach I almost ended on was 'Moolach Beach'. Knowing this I ran toward the helicopter, stopping often to get a fix on the sound. They hovered over the end of the jetty to guide me in. After 20 minutes I spotted the jetties and ran into Newport Bay. The boat ran out of gas 100 ft from the boat ramp. I paddled the last few feet and kissed the dock when I got there. It took the rest of the day to get to Depoe and shuttle the trailer, recover the boat and get home. It took several days to lose the shakes.

I learned an important lesson that day. Never give up, never lose the ability to reason to abject fear, never be afraid to ask for help. As far as I'm concerned the Coast Guard are heroes, every one of them.

That was the day I lost my sense of immortality and fell in love with the Ocean.

How far would you go??

Good story, glad you made it! I thought the post said immorality Icould of talked about that.

You guys should hear that John (Pilar) is now an ocean expert! He can tell ya the co-ordinates to halibut hot spots or about anything you'd need to know about running bars; saltwater type or otherwise . His now larger blue fiberglass boat "Pilar", so named after Earnest Hemmingway's boat the Pilar, is a well know fixture on the Columbia for the sturgeon fishery also. John has more good stories than most old seahags, and he ain't old yet. Most of his stories start with "This ain't no [Bleeeeep!]". Really cool to have you here dude! ...

Your story above is eerily like one I had concerning the gas tank part of it. I was fishing Bouy 10 for slivers many years ago in a small flat bottom sled with just a 6 gallon portable gas tank. The 3 of us had 5 fish as the tide started to ebb. You know how much ya want to limit the boat when you're that close and fish are still around; and we were still hooking but losing some. I knew the Columbia bar isn't a place to be on the outgoing tide, despite the good weather; but we HAD to get that last fish. After the tide started to run fast and strong I'd have to pick up and run up to 12 or so and start backtrolling herring again. We finally got our fish. But by this time the swift current and growing swells were such that we could only slowly gain ground at full throttle. Unnerving for sure! I didn't want to drift half way to Hawaii. But the real scare came when I lifted the gas can and it was almost EMPTY. Yikes!!!! And I hadn't cleared Clatsop spit yet, so had to stay out in the stronger current making slow headway. We finally got up past the spit so I could move over into slower water and also be closer to shore in case we had to paddle or swim for it. Well, I don't know how that tiny amount of gas lasted, but it got us to just short of the Hammond boat basin entrance where we were able to row to the docks. Whew!!! Lesson learned! Big time.

RT

Pilar, you're one lucky guy, After spending 8yrs in the U.S. Coast Guard, 4 of those years on the Oregon coast "North Bend/Coos Bay". If I have heard 1 story like yours I have heard a hundred. You are one of the lucky ones. Hopefully someone will read your post and learn a lesson from your mistake and maybe their life will be saved. On a lighter note, I sure miss that south Oregon coast fishing. Take care and be careful out there.