trip gone bad

[rubicon]

My fishing buddy went offshore marlin fishing last weekend. The capt. had a charter of 4 guys and buddy went along as a second mate. They were out about 60 miles, early in the morning, and had seen 3 marlin, one of them right beside the boat, and several nice tuna, when one of the guys in the party declaired he was dying and wanted to go home RIGHT NOW. Capt. called for help and a coast guard vessel was about 10 miles away and steamed to them. they let off a medic who boarded the boat and started taking care of the patient who said his arms were numb, had a headache, and couldnt breathe, Well the medic got seasick and started freaking out also. ( seems he forgot to take his AM medicine and doest like small boats (34 ft). So ... capt relayed situation to shore and was told to head in full steam and a rescue boat from shore would head their way and intercept. They met and medic was given medicine and patient was hooked up to defibs, iv, etc. when they reached no wake zone the way was cleared and they continued full steam to the dock where an ambulance and more medics and coast guard officials were waiting. Tide was low and they had about a three or four foot climb to the boardwalk and were getting the patient ready to lift when he declaired he was ok, pulled out the iv and jumped up on the dock! He was taken to er anyway and was examined and released. Said he evidently had an anxiety attack Rest of day was spent filling out reports and having a vessel inspection by coast guard. Captain was told he did the right thing and boat passed inspection but day was shot AND THEY STARTED OUT IN THE FISH!!!!

[fabsroman]

I can tell you one thing, if I was friends with the guy that had the anxiety attack, I would have killed him myself.

I have been out fishing for shark and tuna out of Ocean City and got sea sick once, but I still debate whether it was sea sickness or just lack of sleep. This was during law school and I was working at a video store. I closed the store that night at 12:30 on the 4th of July weekend. I then went to 7-Eleven and got a double gulp of cherry Coke, because they were out of Coke, and two king size Snickers bars. I then left for the ocean. I drank all the soda and ate both candy bars on the way down. Once I got there around 4:00 in the morning, I spent the next 30 minutes looking for parking. I finally made it in to my law school buddy's place a little after 4:30 and he was waking me up at 5:00 to help him set up the boat. Our other law school friend got to sleep in because he didn't have a clue about what was to be done.

Anyway, on the way out I was cutting up the butterfish at the back of the boat to use as bait/chum. At the same time, I was smelling the burning diesel back there. While the boat was doing 30+ knots, I got up and puked over the side and felt like hell.

So, I went inside and went to sleep. I finally woke up to them realing in some sharks, so I got into the action. Ended up being a pretty good day.

Moral of the story, know who you are going out on the water or in the field with, and make sure they aren't a wimp or an idiot.

[rubicon]

My buddy went out to mate for a friend who owns the boat and is a charter captain and had the party of four. It was one of the paying customers who got sick. The other htree wanted a refund on what they paid for the trip but of course didnt get it. But my buddy didnt get a tip either. I wouldnt have refunded either. 120 miles pushing that big boat eats plenty of diesel. The boat and captain are good fishermen and know the boat. Mate won the Marlin a few years ago and held the Md state shark record for a while.

[fabsroman]

Rubicon,

Trust me when I say I know a little bit about fishing out there. My buddy from law school mated on a boat to put himself through law school and he grew up fishing out of Ocean City. His dad owned the 35 foot boat that we always went out on and our diesel bill was around $200 each time we went out. Thankfully, his father paid for the maintenance and everything on the boat.

I don't think those guys should have received a refund either. If anything, they should look to their anxiety buddy for reimbursement, not the captain. In fact, the captain and mate should have been given a tip for getting back so fast.

For those that don't know, the mate on the boat doesn't get paid unless he receives a tip.

Regarding the White Marlin Open, there are some serious dollars in the tournament and people come from all over to fish it.

[Gotcha!]

A few years ago, a friend and I were making plans for a fishing trip to Cabo. Couple of other guys wanted to go and wanted to fish for Marlin 2 days. I bookedthe boat , and told them to get their own Hotel and plane res. On Thursday night, before Saturday departure, these 2 other guys cancel out. They lost the cost of their "non-refundable" plane tickets and hotel deposit. When we got back, we made them pay for 1/2 of the 2-day boat charter too!!!!!!

The "rest of the story." The cause of the pullout was one guy's girlfriend said she would leave him if the went to Cabo for 3 days without her, and the second guy said his daughter got F's on her last report card????. Irony was we caught no fish the first day, and the Chair Pedestal broke the second day - but we caught 3 sailfish and three 50-60# Yellowfin tuna! The owner of the boat took 1/3 off the 2-day total (plus my customary 10% off). $400/day = $800 - 80 - 240 = $480. We collected $400 from the wimps, so we fished a 31' Bertram for $20/day each!!!! Nice trip!

[fabsroman]

What the hell does a girlfriend leaving him and a daughter getting F's have anything to do with cancelling a fishing trip.

Regarding the girlfriend, "I'm going fishing for 3 days. If you are here when I get back, great, if not, you aren't the woman for me."

Regarding the daughter, "Honey, daddy is going on a fishing trip for three days, and during that time I will be thinking about an appropriate punishment for you. In the meantime, you are grounded for the three days that I am gone. I'll see you when I get back."

[Steverino]

Last year my fiance' and I went deep sea fishing off the coast of Puerto Vallarta for Marlin and sailfish. I paid the extra money for a private charter (private head) and got references on our captain. I wanted her experience to be a good one since she was very good about me booking the trip since she knew that it was something that I really wanted to do. (I "sacrificed" a day shopping in town with her the previous day so I figured we were even! )

The morning we left the pier, the ocean looked relatively calm. About ten miles offshore, the winds picked up and the waves got a little rough as our captain was hauling tail to get us to a hotspot. My fiance' was looking greener and greener. I offered to go back with her and she insisted we go. She puked twice watching our mate rig our bait and rods. She was so sick she didn't want to even try. I fished for a few hours and hooked into several nice Mahi-mahi along with a dandy sailfish. It was hard enjoying myself seeing her look so miserable. She finally relented and I asked the mate and capatain to drag up and head home. Neither of them were surprised and I learned that they had taken us to their best spots first because they figured we call it a day early.

The captain boogeyed us back to port as our fish were cleaned courtesy of our mate. Just how this fella was able to get the fish cleaned with such precision as the boat was hauling over and through wave after wave was amazing. Needless to say, they were tipped very well for their efforts.

I'll be back at it the end of next month with my father in law, brother, and buddy. When I asked Sheryl if she wanted to join us on our "boys day out" while she shops in town, she just smiled and said to go ahead without her so I won't have to tip the crew additional funds for the vomit clean-up.

She's amazing!

[fabsroman]

I don't think I would ever take my wife out in the ocean until she gets a good amount of bay fishing under her belt. At the rate I am going here, that will take several years.

Steverino,

My hat is off to your fiance. When are you guys getting married? We just "tied the knot" 3 weeks ago.

[TreeDoc]

What a he11 of a place to have that kind of attack. Let me tell ya something about anxiety attacks though. You'll learn who you can trust real quick in that situation. Remember 9/11/01? Quite a week wasn't it? Well, after that Tuesday's events, one of my crew was involved in an accident while at work and driving one of my vehicles. Nothing major fortunately but when you're self employed it's not the kind of call that goes down well when your employee calls immediately after it has happened in a complete panic. I noticed my hands gripping that steering wheel a little tighter by Wednesday. A few other "bad day" issues came up on Thursday and by Friday the fingernails were digging into the steering wheel while I was "putting out fires" and dealing with clients as well as the grief we all watched unfold after Tuesday.

Saturday and Sunday were going to be good days as a buddy of mine and I were headed up to a local ridgetop for a overnight Blacktail hunt. I noticed that I wasn't feeling 100% on the way to our hunt but just brushed it off as being tired and being a bit stressed from the brutal week. I was looking forward to this getaway and a good chance at taking a good local Buck. We hiked down some very, very steep terrain for about 1.5 hours to get into a deep canyon and planned on staying in that night and coming out in the afternoon the next day. When I got down in the canyon my buddy was anxious to get to a good spot to catch the upcoming evening hunt. By now I was feeling really crappy but couldn't identify the cause of the symptoms so I sent him on his way while I kicked back against the hillside for a little water and recuperation. He took off and left me there at the drop of a hat. After a bit of rest I started getting dizzy and lightheaded. My breathing was noticeably different as was my heart rate and all of a sudden it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest and nothing I did with my breathing pattern would ease it. Lots of things started feeling really, really unusual and I had never felt like that in my life, it was pretty scary. Here I was in the bottom of this canyon with a brutal hike out and I'm pretty confident that something is going on with my heart...the symptoms were all there now.

After putting it off again and again, I felt like a pussy but I called my buddy on the radio and told him that I was really feeling pretty bad and that I would be staying where I was at for the time being. He made no effort to check on me so I just stayed where I was. Things were getting worse and I started wondering how the heck I was gonna get out of this spot. I described my symptoms to my buddy and told him I had to start up the mountain for the couple a few hour hike out so I could make it up before sundown because I saw the fog coming in and knew there was no way a helicopter would be able to assist in my retreival if I couldn't do it on my own. My "buddy" did not seem terribly interested in my plight and sounded bothered about the whole thing. I didn't whine...I just packed it up and started putting one foot in front of the other and headed up the mountain. I told him what trail I was taking and that I was headed back up to the truck, I left the rest up to him.

While I exerted myself I seemed to feel OK but when I stopped to rest it would all come down on me again. It was pretty scary to say the least. You start thinking "Is this how a heart attack feels?" "Am I history out here in the woods?" I got to the truck in a bit over 2 hours straight up the mountain. My buddy had only checked my progress a couple times by radio and said he would head out eventually. He made it out about an hour or so later. He was obviously pissed but I didn't care at that point, I was feeling a little better but still not good and needed to get home and then maybe head for the hospital. I did just that as my wife took me in right after my buddy dropped me off at home.

In the ER when they heard my symptoms they rushed me right in in front of everyone else and hooked me up to the heart monitors, EKG, blood work, etc. After about 30 minutes the Doc comes up to me and says "so what's going on in your life....any stress? I replied "well, those azzholes just smoked the World Trade Center and some 3000 plus innocent people died and work kind of sucks but other than that...I'm good" He then proceeded to tell me that everything about my ticker was good and said what I experienced was a case of severe anxiety. I couldn't believe it....there's no way that what I had felt out there in the field could have been created in my mind....NO FRIKKIN" WAY!!!

Guess what? I was wrong, he was right. He wanted to give me some drugs for it but I declined and suggested that I'd get my house in order if this was to be a mind game. I just mellowed myself for a couple weeks and put things into perspective a little and I have never had a problem like this again.

I've only seen my "buddy" a couple times in passing since. I wouldn't pizz on him if he were on fire. I'm sure he thinks I'm a puss. Had the roles been reversed I would have drug him out of that canyon and hung by his side the whole way....screw hunting.

Sorry for the long drawn out story but that post brought back some memories whereas before this had happened to me I would have and did say "No Way...that's not possible!" A month or so after 9/11, I read that there had been a huge number of cases, almost in epidemic proportions, of people with nearly identical issues as mine. Who woulda thunk it possible?

[Steverino]

Congratulations Fabs!
I knew that you were away from some of your posts but hadn't realized that you were off getting married. That's cool. Is your home pretty all in order now for the Fall hunting season that's sneaking up on all of us?

TreeDoc,

I've read enough of your posts here on HC to know that you're not a puss-boy. (I will never attempt ocean fishing from a kayak being towed around an ocean like a bobber! LMAO)

Usually with age comes wisdom-You did the correct, smart thing in being aware of what was going on with your body along with venturing out with another person and utilizing a radio for communication.

The fella that you were with, well...I don't know the man obviously but from your personal account he's someone that I do not hold in much esteem. He failed you and you have a right to be upset with him. His selfishness could have cost you more than a friendship. I'm glad that everything worked out for ya!

[Steverino]

BTW Fabs,

Me and the little lady get hitched, Good Lord willing, the end of next month in Puerto Vallarta with immediate family. We're planning on coming home in the beginning of October and then throwing a big Oktoberfest bash with friends and other family. Should be alot of fun!

[rubicon]

The mind can certainly play strange tricks on a persons body. I will always remember my first day inside the coal mine. I thought there was no oxygen and had trouble breathing at first. I was just freaking on being straight down under ground then back five miles and knowing if something happened I would have to barricade myself in there. 18 years later when the mine closed I really missed going under ground. you have to pick your charter boat captains and fishing party members wisely and then you still never know? Many years ago I planned a one week fishing trip to ontario ( me and five other guys) at the last minute all but one backed out but we went anyway. I had no fishig equip at that time and was to use the other guys. We took my truck. had a cabin and boat rented. First full day there I caught the first pike and it was a nice one. well the guy got pissed cause i caught first fish and didnt want me using his pole any more so I sat in the boat most of the day enjoying the scenery. Next day started out the same way so I went to shore and did some exploring. Third morning I started packing and the guy spoke the first words he had said in two days. What you doing? I said Im heading home and if you are riding with me you have 15 mins. I drove 18 hours only stopping for gas and pulled up in front of his house and threw his gear in front yard. We worked side by side for five years after that and never spoke. Found out the other guys backed out because they knew him. We went back (that is all of us but one) the annually the next seven years and had a great time

[Andy L]

No doubt you gotta pick your huntin and fishin partners carefully, especially if you are goin far. One bad one can ruin the whole deal and cost alot of money.

[fabsroman]

Andy L,

I agree that one bad hunting partner can ruin the trip and cost a lot of money, but one bad hunting partner can ruin the trip if you are in a life and death situation. Over the last year, I learned that hunting with pricks, no matter how good the hunting is, just isn't worth it.

TD,

I know what you were feeling, because I have felt it myself as I laid in bed on several occassions. However, each time I just clutch my chest and hope for it to go away. The first time it happened, I thought I was having a heart attack, but it went away about 15 minutes later. Now, I know what it is and try to relax when it happens. It usually comes about as I start to think about everything I have to do for my clients the next day and wonder how the hell I am going to get it done. Unlike the guy in the boat, I doubt you would just jumped out of the stretcher and announce that it was an anxiety attack. That is what would have killed me. I would follow my friends to the hospital and make sure that everythign is right. I would have also agreed with hauling back in full speed, and I never would have asked the captain for a refund. At the same time, I wouldn't expect for my buddy to cough up anything extra, but once he jumped up on deck after removing the IV and announced it was merely an anxiety attack, I would have killed him personally.

I have heard stories where people have stepped on gafs and they have gone right through their foot. No hesitation to high speed it back to the shore and call for help the entire way in.

Hunting and fishing can be very dangerous sports because they involve a lot of physical exertion, they are usually done far away from civilization, and they usually involve deadly equipment. So, hunting and fishing buddies are really important.

Steverino,

Congratulations on tying the knot in a month. So far so good for the wife and I. The townhouse is almost finished. I have to finish up the garage and a couple of odds and ends inside, but the large portion of the work is done. Now I spend long hours working and making money.

Steverino,

[TreeDoc]

I will admit one thing for certain....had I felt as I did that day in the field, you wouldn't hear me say "I'm dieing, take me back NOW!!!"