Surfers rescue boaters in distress...

**Baker** · 10-10-2009, 10:34 AM

Below is a cut and paste. *It does require some local knowledge to totally understand and there is some typos and of course surfer slang in it. *But it does make for a bit of a story. *These are some guys a surf with on a regular basis. *The area they are speaking of are jetties that for an "artificial" tease of a pass near the town of Matagorda, Texas. *I say artificial because there ARE jetties on both sides but the shoaling is EXTREME(we surf in BETWEEN the jetties if that tells you anything) and the only reason I would use this as a port is if someone was dying on my boat....and even then I would have a hard time making that decision. *I think we lost a boat that tried to go in there during the Harvest Monn Regatta last week although that is unconfirmed. *Anyway, if you are interested you can check it out on Google Earth....N28 35'32.52" *W95 58'52.76"

It's wierd how things work out timing and all.* Me, Cheek, and Shawn just got to the banks flying down the beach doing 50 because the low tide pulled up watched for 2 minutes (the whole ride up the beach Greg was like "the river mouth dude the river mouth"), just like that I go fark it we're going to the river mouth and we peeled it back down the beach. We pulled up on the big sand bar inside the jetty soon as we got out started getting ready, I was like... ho bra. that boat is in distress. It's cold raining Ape Boy was already in the water it looked good. I wanted to stay back and watch to make sure the boat got out, sure enough the boat was taking a beating taking on major water in the impact zone doing circles (steering went out), blip, it flips 2 guys in the water. Greg goes, we gotta those guys, I called 911 said 2 men in the water boat over turned we're goin to get em. We paddle out it is full blown firing solid head high with the jetty blocking the chop and wind with the boat upside down right on the outside peak. I took one look at the first set let out a hoot and Greg again goes we gotta get those guys. We both took the first wave we could on our bellys and Shawn immediately followed none of us standing up to the rescue. I see Shawn with the one guy turn to the right and see my guy and go straight to him, he smiled at me. Told him its cool do not worry i am here we will get in no big deal we just gotta swim for a little bit. I was thinking we could just paddle in.... nerp... that aint happenin. Greg told me before we went out that you would have to go around the jetty if you got caught in that rip, thank God these dudes had jackets on (Shawn told me later his dude was laying flat on his back in the zone when he got to him). We're stuck in the rip right in the impact zone going no where. Pretty much every man for himself at this point I took all of my attention of Shawn and Greg and was litterally in peril my self. After about 20 head high duck dives killer looking waves i told the guy.. we have to go out to get in. He was young and i got him to swim beside me and we made it to the north jetty right at the tip before we got sucked out, he held on to my legs for the most time under every wave, the whole time telling it was cool no biggy dude, i was scared though i will admit. Shawn and Greg with the other guy were way out both jettys and looked to me liked they were getting swept out. I go in call 911 again and she goes "a game warded is on his way now in a boat". Guy pulls up in a bay boat, first thought was that aint gonna work. It didn't. Dont know how he made through the pass on the rough side the south side. I'm paddlin back out thinkin its all good its on now and he's lolly gaggin in the full on head high impact zone. Greg was trying to tell him to go and sure enough one big one hits him and the next one boom, over they go. Greg took off and ripped the peak that flipped em, looks back and goes here we go again, dammit boy.* Sorry dude but the game warden did not know what he was doing, he had his back turned to the waves had time to go asking irrelevant questions to the victim, someone with wave knowledge could've made it. The warden and his victim are lucky they did not get knocked out on the flip, i saw it happen and they are lucky. 4 heads pop up over on terds and cool everyone made it. Warden lost his boat and his service revolver, they got picked up by a shrimp boat all is good. We then hit 3 mile for some killer surf it was a great Karma sesh for sure, felt so good on the first offshores of the year.

troy994719 · 10-12-2009, 07:23 AM

Wow now thats a day your buddies will never forget!
I have heard a few people tell me that they came in at Matagorda and it was pretty wild!*I think*Matagorda Bay is cursed, I have been out on it many times in all kinds of boats and its never been*calm! *

Keith · 10-12-2009, 08:07 AM

I've set a couple of SOG speed records for my boat, or maybe for Krogen 42's in general. Outbound I think we were doing 14 knots (normally run 7-8). I could not have entered there, even at full throttle with that kind of current. There were also some pretty serious rollers; I would NOT have wanted to have to turn around in there! If you decided to use that channel, be sure to check the tide status before hand.

Oh yea, I also entered and went up the CO river once. We made it, but with a pretty serious pucker factor and a couple of dolphins leading the way. They call that entrance unnavigable now due to shoaling and shifting.