The Devil Fools with the Best Laid Plans
Wise words from Neil Young. If there’s one thing that can sabotage your trip and send you into boat repair town, it’s a prop wrap. On a recent trip to Key West, I booked a charter to do some mahi, mackerel and reef fishing with the kids. This was my first time fishing in Key West so I was a little unfamiliar with the companies down there. We got pre-dawn sausage and egg sandwiches at the Circle K, launched from the dock at sunrise, and arrived at the staging grounds an hour later. Some reef fishing would start the day to get bait for the larger fish. I should have done more homework on the charter. The boat was a bit of a relic, a homegrown 26 ft. cabin cruiser that the captain might have been living on. We shrugged it off. It looked like it would do the trick. The winds were at around fifteen knots. Six foot swell.
Captain Mark was experienced and had been running charters for over 20 years in the Keys. He had worked for several well-known companies locally and had stories, as a good captain should. It is really amazing what some boats have been through. He gave us quite a history of the party boat we were on the day before, one that he had captained 15 years earlier. That gypsy vessel had been built in the Great Lakes in the mid-20th century, then 20 years later was stolen and sailed down the Mississippi, winding up in Cuba doing nobody-knows-what for another 20 years. In the nineties it came back to Key West with migrants and had been living the high life ever since as a party fishing boat. Wow! If hulls could tell tales!
Experienced as he was, Captain Mark was on the grog. What happened next was an example of how your circumstances can change on a dime due to a careless mistake.
A 26 footer bobs around quite a bit in 6 foot, choppy seas. We had pulled up to a reef and were in about 30 feet of water when Willy started throwing up over the side (note to self not to get sausage and egg breakfast the next time). The plan was to drop anchor for a little while and fish for some yellowtail snapper, which we would use as bait for grouper. For reasons that are still a bit murky to me, Captain Mark threw the anchor over the leeward side of the boat and fed the line out to the desired length to set it. Naturally, the boat drifted over the line because the wind was pushing us that way. The line wrapped up under the keel and when he tried to maneuver the boat, we got a serious prop wrap, disabling the boat. In seconds, the line grew tight and the stern was immediately getting pounded by waves.
A few things occurred to me at this point. First, no amount of pulling on the anchor line would loosen it so that we could untangle the prop. The wind and waves are mighty forces and pushed the boat’s bow downwind, leaving the stern exposed to the oncoming waves. Fortunately, it was a sturdy boat, but some of the waves were topping the transom. That could be disastrous, flooding the boat and sinking it.
Second, the pressure of the line on the prop and shaft must have been tremendous. The jerking motion from the waves would put heavy stress on the drive train. I scanned the boat for safety equipment in the event that the worst-case scenario came to pass. Thank god there were vests. I handed some to the kids.
Captain Mark and First Mate Pete acted quickly. Getting snagged on lines is actually not that rare in waters that are littered with lobster traps and ghost nets. They had been in a similar situation before. Pete jumped in and tied a fender to the anchor line. Once the line was cut and we drifted while untangling the prop, we would be able to find the fender and retrieve the anchor. That was the idea.
We drifted for a mile or two before Pete was able to unwrap the prop. Even in calm water with a scuba tank, this can be tricky. In rough water with only a mask, and the stern of the boat rising and falling dramatically, it’s pretty hard to keep yourself secured under a boat with your hands free to work the rope. Each time Pete came up for air he looked exhausted.
Nobody was hugely panicked. We had a radio, and this was Key West, so there wasn’t much threat of getting lost at sea. Still, a good chunk of time was spent dealing with this. Finally, after Pete had carefully needled and cut away at the line, the prop was free and we were under way. We found the fender but it had come undone from the anchor line, so the anchor was lost. This was the final straw for Captain Mark. Not being much for improvising, he thought it would be best to return to port. Our fishing day was lost.
Seemingly small things can translate to large problems on the water. The elements dictate more than you think. If you’re not paying attention, you can be in real trouble. We were about 12 miles out. If for some reason the radio had not been charged, or if the boat met with a quick demise, it could have been yet another story, perhaps told by my widow.
Oh, and turtles get prop wraps too.
Other Worthy Articles About Prop Wraps
“Prop Wrap” – It’s Easy to Prevent the Costly Consequences of a Fouled Propellor | Modern Sailing
What happens when a propeller gets wrapped? (jollyparrot.co.uk)