It was a perfectly calm, July blue sky morning here in Netarts. I had plans to meet my friend and fellow boot camper, Monica for some much needed body beat down!
At seven a.m. sharp I turned the first corner into the Happy Camp public parking lot. Just as I turned the second corner a man ran right in front of my car heading for the bay. He was clenching a mug with his fist out in front of him about neck high, with coffee sloshing over the rim onto his clothes and the ground. Striking me as a little odd, my eyes followed him as he ran toward the edge of the bay. I quickly realized he wasn't running for fun, but out of fear of what was about happen. I threw my car into park and ran in the same direction dialing 911 as fast as I could. Feeling completely helpless there I stood watching an overturned metal hulled boat with two men standing on top and one holding on to the side in the water. They were screaming for help at the top of their lungs as their boat was not only quickly sinking, but being sucked out the mouth of the bay into the open ocean.
The water is cold pretty much every day, but the water was especially cold this particular morning. None of these men were wearing gear to protect them, or save them. No wetsuits, no life jackets. Just jeans, boots and what looked like chest high waders. The boat dropped out of sight within a couple of minutes and now there were three in the water. The current carried them swiftly along the West shoreline. Their heads bobbed along as they tried to make their way to the spit. They didn't appear frantic, but my guess is the cold water had them feeling pretty tight all over making it difficult to move in the right direction. Finally, after what seemed like eternity (I am sure even more so to them), they reached the beach.
With what energy they had left they were able to pull themselves up onto the sandy beach -- on West side of the channel, but out of the water! At last! One of them laid there face down for several minutes barely moving. Exhausted I am certain from his frightening and frigid swim. Within seconds the other two were stripping their cold wet clothes off and throwing them onto the sand. Once stripped down to almost nothing they started hopping up and down swinging their arms to get some blood moving toward their extremities again. The sun probably had never felt this good beating on their skin after spending several minutes in the 45 degree water fully clothed.
911 was having trouble reaching the Coast Guard. They weren't picking up on their usual emergency line. The dispatcher called an alternative number, which patched me through to non-emergency personnel. A local police officer's wife was also on the beach. She had called him and he had just arrived. He used the loud speaker on his patrol car to ask if everyone was okay and to tell them help was on the way. They responded with head nods and a faint "yes."
Monica had shown up by this time. We decided to continue on down the beach to get our workout underway. My adrenalin was already pumping from witnessing this and I really couldn't take my eyes off of them out there on the spit. Five minutes went by. Ten. Fifteen. Then twenty. Approximately thirty minutes after the 911 call the three men were picked up by local emergency responders.
I can only speculate as to what may have happened out there. My guess is they were out for some early morning crabbing, but didn't pay much attention to the fact that the tide was heading out and additionally that there was eight feet of water moving that day! A 7.1 tide heading to a -1.0! With the water moving so swiftly, pulling a crab pot can be a tedious and dangerous task -- especially if it's on the wrong side with the current pulling the pot underneath the boat. A little water comes over the side, then a lot and suddenly all three of them go right into the water. Whatever it was that overturned their boat that morning they weren't ready for it. None were wearing life jackets.
Lots of people do it -- Keep the jackets on board thinking they could grab them if something went wrong. As you can see from this experience, you likely would not have time to get what you need before going over.
These guys got lucky! This could have turned out much worse. I have a feeling they learned a lesson and will do things a little differently next time they go out on the water. I think we can learn from their mistakes and always wear a life vest. A really awesome day on the bay can turn deadly without warning, which really wouldn't be so awesome would it!
Netarts Bay is one of the best places to play! But, be safe! See you out there sometime soon...With your life jackets on!
~Wendy
I get the impression most people living in the Portland area do not know the coast fogs in when Portland gets much over 85 degrees. It makes sense if it is nice in Portland you may come to the beach for more of the same type of weather, or perhaps you actually are trying to escape the heat. On these "hot" Portland days I see people on, or near the beach wearing sandals, tank tops and shorts -- sometimes even bathing suits. I'm pretty sure if you had a truck full of sweatshirts to sell you could make some money! In the picture above dense fog hugs Cape Lookout, while sun shines over Netarts Bay.
