Last weekend I participated in my first ever boat ramp recovery. Was at Seminole State Park in Wyoming... nice place. Our group only had SUP's and small kayaks, but during the same weekend was a fishing tournament, so lots of other folks with real boats going in and out. And we were set up to play just down the bank from the ramp, so could watch the boats go in and out, etc., kinda cool.
So the story goes my friend Locke and I were fishing up this little cove down the way from the rest of the group, trying to bounce these little jigs on the bottom to catch walleye. I didn't get anything, but was fun to be out in any case, Locke caught one little baby fish and tossed it back. Was about par for me fishing-wise, but I tend to enjoy the process of untangling reels, picking out lures, casting, and just being out in a boat for a change as much as actually reeling in a fish. Was a good morning so far. I was headed back to our little camp for something to drink when I get intercepted by Michele on a stand-up, telling me some old man just put his whole truck and trailer into the lake and I should probably go over there and help. So I pick up the pace on the little kayak and head over, I drove our Class C here and have 0 recovery gear, but had a feeling I could still add value. I get there to find an older man (70?) in the water frantically trying to attach a yellow rope from his boat to his front bumper... my kayak provides him a little relief from swimming as he holds onto it to catch his breath. He said a tow truck is on the way, he just wants to put something on it so it doesn't float away, or drift out any further. It's an older F250, and only the front tip of the shell is exposed.. this is the position it was in (minus the tow strap, that came later)
What ensued was a fairly typical coming together of anyone around who wanted to be involved, really no different from being up on a shelf road. A lot of the Wyoming guys all had dualies, and one was eager to show off his new Cummins and promptly backed that Dodge down the ramp. His receiver hitch was a big kind, where it had to be sleeved down to accept a 2" square. We get the yellow rope hooked up to both sides, and everyone watching was in agreement it was probably going to break, so with all clear the truck pulled and our assumptions were validated. One advantage of being under water is the risk of a rope flying around goes down quite a bit, that water's better than a jacket on a rope any day. As this happens other recovery gear matriculates, and we found ourselves with a 10,000 pound yellow strap from HF, and a couple of bow shackles. Another guy also had about a 10,000 pound strap, making a total of 2 and we needed the length so I weaved the two together at the loops to create one long one. I removed the bow shackle from the setup, and on the truck side I just used the hitch pin through the strap loop, inside the receiver. Super straight pull so wasn't worried about abrasion, and I wanted as few moving parts as possible.
By this point one of the Rangers had come down, and he was willing to be the deep sea diver (was either him or me, I was good to let him have it) and he managed to swim down to wrap the strap around the front shackle of the truck, he was also able to insure the truck was in neutral and take off the parking brake. This all sounds kinda trivial, but when under 10-15'' of water it was a little intense, lots of trials to make these happen and lots of care that he didn't get stuck inside the cab, etc. I was ready to dive in to yank him out but thankfully didn't need to.
So then it was time to see what this Dodge could do... I reminded the driver that the rigging is rated for about half of what we're actually doing here, but it's the best we got just take it really easy. Made sure all the kids/dogs/dudes were all out of harm's way prior to pulling. What happened next was almost anti-climatic... he essentially idled up the ramp, pulling the truck and trailer, and the cleanest red old school double cab Ford you've ever seen started to emerge.
At one point we backed it down to turn the wheels in towards the ramp, as the driver side tires had slipped off the edge of the ramp, but that was about it. When the truck was about half out of the water we stopped and opened the doors to let all the water out, and again when we could open the tailgate. I was amazed how much trash and loose debris came out.. but was a good job for all the kids to pick up as much as they could. That's me cleaning my shoe out at my kayak...
The Dodge pulled the rig up and away from the ramp to the side, where it was staged for the tow truck, who was just pulling in. Someone gave the old guy a shirt, I went and got him a Gatorade, he was settling down and super gracious for the help. Oh during all of this the guy's wife was receiving medical attention, apparently she bailed out of the truck when things went south and cut her finger somehow, and pretty bad as I heard you could see the bone. Another Ranger there took over the first aid of that, but it resulted in an ambulance showing up ahead of the tow truck.
Story ends with a few fist bumps and thank yous shared by everyone involved, the Sheriff came and met with the old guy, they exchanged some paperwork. Then the man hopped into the ambulance and left with his wife to the urgent care. Someone else put his boat on his trailer, to leave it parked there until someone could go get it. I asked the Sheriff later if it's always this exciting here... he said no usually really quiet. And what's funny is he knew that guy, he's a retired Deputy from the area. Just proves that accidents can happen to anyone... the story was the brakes just went out. I am guessing that he was maybe backing down in neutral, then when he stopped to release the boat, he popped the transmission up one click out of habit into park and took his foot off the brake. by the time he realized he was in reverse instead of park, it was too late. Just my guess there, not sure how brakes suddenly fail especially on a truck that looked like it's been well maintained.
We went back to fishing. The kids went back to doing what they do, the other parents settled into other activities... a few hours later it was almost surreal, no evidence of any recovery at the ramp, almost hard to believe that all happened. The pictures taken were terrible... I didn't have my phone as I didn't want it to get wet, and there was no service, and I was on vacation dammit so that's my excuse... then too busy to run up to the RV to grab it. The ones in the thread here are all we had, which Locke snapped. But it's enough to get the point across, hopefully you could follow the story.
At 3:00 that day our quiet little bank was infiltrated by 20 of the nicest fishing boats you've ever seen, and a bunch of happy guys who all looked like they were out on the water all day. Each boat had a laundry basket full of fish- and big ones too, I think the rules were you were scored on the two largest from any species (rainbow trout and walleye) and there were also prizes for biggest fish, etc. So we watched them all weigh in their catches, give each others hard times about how gently they could put their boats on the shore, etc. Kinda fun, again not much different from say Cruise Moab, but just different equipment & goals... same kind of folks. Towards the end a guy camped across from us recognized us and asked if we wanted any of his fish to eat- heck yeah! Couldn't have his walleye, but he gave us 6 rainbows.. I used my stringer to hold them, and of course we posed for quick photo prior to cleaning them on the back of my trailer. I guess Karma is real, the fish fry we had that night was phenomenal, and who knows when I tell this story in 10 years I just may have caught those fish... pics don't lie right? thanks for reading.
So the story goes my friend Locke and I were fishing up this little cove down the way from the rest of the group, trying to bounce these little jigs on the bottom to catch walleye. I didn't get anything, but was fun to be out in any case, Locke caught one little baby fish and tossed it back. Was about par for me fishing-wise, but I tend to enjoy the process of untangling reels, picking out lures, casting, and just being out in a boat for a change as much as actually reeling in a fish. Was a good morning so far. I was headed back to our little camp for something to drink when I get intercepted by Michele on a stand-up, telling me some old man just put his whole truck and trailer into the lake and I should probably go over there and help. So I pick up the pace on the little kayak and head over, I drove our Class C here and have 0 recovery gear, but had a feeling I could still add value. I get there to find an older man (70?) in the water frantically trying to attach a yellow rope from his boat to his front bumper... my kayak provides him a little relief from swimming as he holds onto it to catch his breath. He said a tow truck is on the way, he just wants to put something on it so it doesn't float away, or drift out any further. It's an older F250, and only the front tip of the shell is exposed.. this is the position it was in (minus the tow strap, that came later)
What ensued was a fairly typical coming together of anyone around who wanted to be involved, really no different from being up on a shelf road. A lot of the Wyoming guys all had dualies, and one was eager to show off his new Cummins and promptly backed that Dodge down the ramp. His receiver hitch was a big kind, where it had to be sleeved down to accept a 2" square. We get the yellow rope hooked up to both sides, and everyone watching was in agreement it was probably going to break, so with all clear the truck pulled and our assumptions were validated. One advantage of being under water is the risk of a rope flying around goes down quite a bit, that water's better than a jacket on a rope any day. As this happens other recovery gear matriculates, and we found ourselves with a 10,000 pound yellow strap from HF, and a couple of bow shackles. Another guy also had about a 10,000 pound strap, making a total of 2 and we needed the length so I weaved the two together at the loops to create one long one. I removed the bow shackle from the setup, and on the truck side I just used the hitch pin through the strap loop, inside the receiver. Super straight pull so wasn't worried about abrasion, and I wanted as few moving parts as possible.
By this point one of the Rangers had come down, and he was willing to be the deep sea diver (was either him or me, I was good to let him have it) and he managed to swim down to wrap the strap around the front shackle of the truck, he was also able to insure the truck was in neutral and take off the parking brake. This all sounds kinda trivial, but when under 10-15'' of water it was a little intense, lots of trials to make these happen and lots of care that he didn't get stuck inside the cab, etc. I was ready to dive in to yank him out but thankfully didn't need to.
So then it was time to see what this Dodge could do... I reminded the driver that the rigging is rated for about half of what we're actually doing here, but it's the best we got just take it really easy. Made sure all the kids/dogs/dudes were all out of harm's way prior to pulling. What happened next was almost anti-climatic... he essentially idled up the ramp, pulling the truck and trailer, and the cleanest red old school double cab Ford you've ever seen started to emerge.
At one point we backed it down to turn the wheels in towards the ramp, as the driver side tires had slipped off the edge of the ramp, but that was about it. When the truck was about half out of the water we stopped and opened the doors to let all the water out, and again when we could open the tailgate. I was amazed how much trash and loose debris came out.. but was a good job for all the kids to pick up as much as they could. That's me cleaning my shoe out at my kayak...
The Dodge pulled the rig up and away from the ramp to the side, where it was staged for the tow truck, who was just pulling in. Someone gave the old guy a shirt, I went and got him a Gatorade, he was settling down and super gracious for the help. Oh during all of this the guy's wife was receiving medical attention, apparently she bailed out of the truck when things went south and cut her finger somehow, and pretty bad as I heard you could see the bone. Another Ranger there took over the first aid of that, but it resulted in an ambulance showing up ahead of the tow truck.
Story ends with a few fist bumps and thank yous shared by everyone involved, the Sheriff came and met with the old guy, they exchanged some paperwork. Then the man hopped into the ambulance and left with his wife to the urgent care. Someone else put his boat on his trailer, to leave it parked there until someone could go get it. I asked the Sheriff later if it's always this exciting here... he said no usually really quiet. And what's funny is he knew that guy, he's a retired Deputy from the area. Just proves that accidents can happen to anyone... the story was the brakes just went out. I am guessing that he was maybe backing down in neutral, then when he stopped to release the boat, he popped the transmission up one click out of habit into park and took his foot off the brake. by the time he realized he was in reverse instead of park, it was too late. Just my guess there, not sure how brakes suddenly fail especially on a truck that looked like it's been well maintained.
We went back to fishing. The kids went back to doing what they do, the other parents settled into other activities... a few hours later it was almost surreal, no evidence of any recovery at the ramp, almost hard to believe that all happened. The pictures taken were terrible... I didn't have my phone as I didn't want it to get wet, and there was no service, and I was on vacation dammit so that's my excuse... then too busy to run up to the RV to grab it. The ones in the thread here are all we had, which Locke snapped. But it's enough to get the point across, hopefully you could follow the story.
At 3:00 that day our quiet little bank was infiltrated by 20 of the nicest fishing boats you've ever seen, and a bunch of happy guys who all looked like they were out on the water all day. Each boat had a laundry basket full of fish- and big ones too, I think the rules were you were scored on the two largest from any species (rainbow trout and walleye) and there were also prizes for biggest fish, etc. So we watched them all weigh in their catches, give each others hard times about how gently they could put their boats on the shore, etc. Kinda fun, again not much different from say Cruise Moab, but just different equipment & goals... same kind of folks. Towards the end a guy camped across from us recognized us and asked if we wanted any of his fish to eat- heck yeah! Couldn't have his walleye, but he gave us 6 rainbows.. I used my stringer to hold them, and of course we posed for quick photo prior to cleaning them on the back of my trailer. I guess Karma is real, the fish fry we had that night was phenomenal, and who knows when I tell this story in 10 years I just may have caught those fish... pics don't lie right? thanks for reading.
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