What Not To Do With Your Boat On The Kenai

Water safety is very important to me, especially when I'm on the Kenai. I thought I'd share a few photos from this past summer of things not to do while boating on the river. If you look real close in the photo above there are two people in the boat. At the time I took the photo I thought that they were husband and wife but they could be boyfriend/girlfriend. Anyway, this is classic case of not knowing what the tide schedule is doing and this is common occurence on the lower Kenai. The people in this boat pulled up on the bank to fish red salmon. Apparently they didn't realize that the tide was still in when they started because when they finished the tide was out and their boat was high and dry. For at least six hours the two had to sit there waiting for the tide to turn. Hmmmm, I could only imagine what their conversations were like.

This picture was taken in August during the pink/silver run. What's going on in this photo is the anchor rope wrapped around the lower unit of the outboard motor (rendering it useless). Notice how all the other boats are facing the opposite way of this boat? I watched very closely and was ready to assist in case the boat took on water. That's what usually happens when your transom takes the brunt of the current. Fortunately these guys were anchored just off the main river on a slower seam and nothing but their anchor rope and ego were hurt.

This is my neighbor's boat and dock. Every year this happens and you would think he'd figure it out by now.....Hello? On a large tide, a dock that doesn't float is not where you want to tie your boat.

This photo was taken mid June and it's a bit fuzzy but it's a classic case of a guide who is either new to the river or only fishes it during the second run in July. Anybody who runs the river in May, June, August or September knows where the gravel bars are. Anyway, what happened is the boat was traveling full speed and bottomed out on a gravel bar just above Beaver Creek. It was a miracle that no one was thrown into the water and that the lower unit of the outboard still worked. Oh well, it all ended well. The boat eventually got off the gravel bar when the guide jumped into the water to push it into a deeper channel. I'm sure the the cold Kenai wade/swim will be a constant reminder to this guy about where not to run the boat next year.

That's it for my observations from 2010 about what not to do. I'm sure 2011 will prove to be just as exciting and fortunately, or unfortunately if you're the one getting hung up, my camera will be in the boat to capture the moment....