Sorry I haven't been around much. It's been 1 tough year so far.
I was ready for the first T of the year first Saturday in March. We'd lined up at the bouys and were blasting off. I had about a 6 mile run in mind to get to where I was going. 1/2 mile out of the marina, I hit a wake off of one of the boats in front of me. If done this hundreds of times and narry a problem. My 20' Ranger does its job every time except that one. The next thing I knew, my elbow was wet, I stuck my hand out and into the water, then my face went underwater, and out the back of the boat I was sucked as it went upside down at right around 60 mph. Fortunately, I had my jacket on and my kill switch. I was ok, but My rig was upside down in 200 feet of water. Fortunately, nobody hit me as there were boats beside, behind, and really all over me as is typical of a tournament blast off. The guy beside me got wet when that 40' tall splash came his way.
Two of the other boats towed me back to the ramp, and I spent the better part of the day getting the boat turned back over and on to the trailer. Fortunately, the engine is ok, but the hull had a lot of damage. I've been putting it back together since then. Right now, a battery charger is the hold up. It's been ordered for 3 weeks, but hasn't showed up. GPS is still not in nor are my seats which were ripped off.
I lost 3 rods, all my soft plastics and a most of the stuff that was supposed to stay dry. One of the rods was a Chronarch SF on a St. Croix the other was one of my custom ABU's on an AlllStar. The 3rd was a spinning rod that wasn't worth much.
I have fished 1 tournament since, but didn't do any good. I took what I had left, and they were hitting worms on a Carolina Rig. I fished crankbaits all day because that's what I had.
The lesson here is to wear that jacket and kill switch. I had no idea a 20' Ranger could go over like that. I figured a 17' or less could and maybe borderline an 18 footer. I proved that theory wrong.
Skipper
