Gday Josh,
One early morning i was heading out for a meat hunt down the Whanganui River utilzing a small tin boat with a wee 8hp to get me across…
The river was a little high with a i good under current. I’d been over the night before and the engine was running sweet so cracked on without checking it (or grabbing an oar)just incase…
It was 6am when i left and still dark with only my headlight to get me over… About two arm lengths from the other side, the motor cut out…after a good few pulls to try get back over the other side and a rapidly increasing drift down the river i had to make a decision.
I stripped down to my bright yellow pineapple undies, grabbed the rope attached to boat and jumped in for the swim of my life… thankfully i made it back to the other side half km drift after a without drifting down to the rapids, losing gear or getting snagged in submerged trees on the way….
Moral of this story for me was to always check my gear before going out….including fuel levels and secondary propulsion when on the water…. Cheers, Lucky Idiot
