Friend lucky to have survived.....

[3dkicker]

While I was working on Sat my club got together on the river for a tournament. I was surprised that they didn't cancel due to snow/sleet/rain etc but they fished. One of the members made a run south by himself and his motor quit on him. As he tried to restart and due to wind and tide waves started crashing over the sides. He called club members for assistance and attempted to use trolling motor to get to shore. From what I understand he continued calling and finally reached one of the members. All the others had either not heard the calls or ignored their phones.

He was on the west side of the river with incoming tide (from south) and north winds. Three boats from the club went looking for him. They expected to find him along a well known set of power lines that cross the river at a power plant where his motor had quit. The couldn't find him. One member called 911 and three sets of rescue teams joined the search. He was eventually found on the opposite side of the river by one of the rescue teams.......hanging on to his trolling motor as his boat had flipped over. He'd been in the water for at least 30 minutes but his inflatable vest was on and working. Fortunately he was well dressed and and was not suffering from hyperthermia....just very cold.

He was very lucky......