Posted by DonavonMn on 07/17/12 - 11:26 PM
#1
About 20 years ago(I'm 42 now), my friends father was trading in his '32-36(not sure) Carvar flybridge and moving up to a '52 Blue Water. My friend's father let his son drive the Carver down the Mississippi River to the marina he was tading it in at, but riding along with us with an experienced river pilot named Duke. Duke had been moving sand and gravel up and down the Mississippi River for over 30 years and knew the river like the back of his hand.
Duke was very clear on always staying between the red and green bouys, they mark the shipping lane which is dreged for barge traffic. If you are outside the buoys you better be moving slow and trimmed up. We were about six miles south from the marina when Duke went down to go to the bathroom and mix a drink, I'm not sure how fast we were going, my best guess is around 30mph. We came up to an island and the shipping channel leaves the main channel, my friend turned into the main channel leaving the shipping channel...
The Carvar came to a dead-stop and we all got thrown around, by the time we got to our feet the boat was starting to lean towards the port side. There came this steady stream of Duke cursing while he came running up from below, he took one look around and screamed "
Gosh-darrnit(yeah right),
we're in the Graveyard! The bilge bumps kicked on and Duke put out a mayday call, Duke told us to take off our shirts and shove them into the crack where the transom became seperated, within a few minutes several vessels from houseboats and fishing boats to a push tug were there to save the day. The Carvar was tied off between a house boat and a push tug and towed back up to the marina.
My friends father was there waiting for us, they pulled the boat out of the water and it was totaled. The transom almost completely seperated, drives and motors were ripped half way out, there were also a few major rips in the hull. My friends started aplogizing to his father about the boat and his father simply replied "That's what insurance is for, now you boys want to go and pick up the new boat"? We picked up the '52 Blue Water and his father let my friend drive it back up to it's new home!
Just in case if you are wondering what the graveyard is, it an area of the Mississippi River was logged back in the thirty or fourties and the river either over took it so something. It's basically a whole bunch of stumps, I'm told they are visible when the water is low. I have a few more times of testing my 16'7" custom, but I need to go back and revisit the graveyard. I'm also planning on stopping in and seeing Duke on his boat where he lives and see if he will give me a pilots tour of the river.