# How I lost my PFD!



## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Saturday morning I wuz gunna go yak fishing. I didn't know the disaster about to befall me. Me missus says, "I wanna go to the beach too but first I need help in the morning with the lad's room." Uh oh!

Saturday morning: No fishing. After putting the first coat of floor varnish on, I read the instructions. Put another coat on in 6 -8 hrs.

Saturday arvo: No fishing as I put on the 2nd coat.

Sunday arvo: At last, missus and I arrived at Tanby Point launch site with 15-20 km/hr NE breeze, white caps everywhere. Not much time left, it was 4 pm. She went for a walk along the beach. I launched into stiff chop and headed out. Didn't troll as very lumpy. Not smooth waves but coming from everywhere with the main ones coming from NE. Five minutes out I put my sunglasses away as too much spray on it and I could hardly see. Easy enough, but very slow, heading up and along the beach as far as tackling the waves went as basically heading into em.

In a quieter patch in the 'shadow' behind some rocky shoals coming out of the water, I put out the Nilsmaster but got nothing. Too windy and water very murky.

Headed back to the launch site. Waves coming from behind and to the left. Every now and then, the yak would suddenly surge forward and foam would wash over the back into the cockpit. Those whitecaps got me heart beating. Some waves were quite big, blocking out the horizon. Awesome fun.

Landed, pulled yak up on beach. Looked around but no missus. She had the car keys. I was wet and in the wind, cold. Still no missus. Pulled yak up further. Still no missus.

After ages, I carried my gear up to the car. Then I carried the yak up. Usually I bring the car down to 1 metre of my gear. Still no missus. Sun had gone down and beach was getting dark.

I put my yak on its cradle on the car and put all my gear in it. A casual passerby would not think of looking up and reaching up for my gear, so I hoped.

Back down the beach I went looking for my missus. Couldn't see her anywhere along the stretch of sand going to the point. Now I was really worrried. Then I saw her not far away, so I breathed a sigh of relief and went back to the car.

When she was back, she said she had climbed up a high spot on the beach and had a wonderful relaxing time watching the view. The full moon was coming up over the silver sea. I asked for the keys and put my gear away and tied down my yak.

About 45 minutes later when I had just got home and was hosing my gear, I noticed something missing. My PFD! My heart sank. I reckoned it must have been down so low in my yak that when I was reaching up and over the edge to grab my gear, I missed it. And then, it would have simply jumped out when the going was too fast for it to hold on.

Back down the beach I went, burning the edges of the road with my spotties. Me missus came with me as she didn't trust me to find it. I didn't find it, niether did she. The beach looked beautiful with the moon light and under different circumstances I would have liked to park a while with me missus, but . . . We kept searching. Nothing.

Monday morning: I crawled into work trying not to think about my lost PDF and the $150 I would need to replace it (fat chance this time of year with Chrissy expenses coming up!). I tried to ignore my workmates who told me how beautiful the sea was on Saturday and Sunday morning but aweful on Sunday arvo.

Not to worry, I got to experience wilder water than I have ever been on, yippee, and me missus enjoyed two trips to the beach. Nothing like yak fishing to bring a couple closer together I reckon.


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## bushwoodboy (Oct 5, 2006)

Sorry for your loss Troppo. Sounds like you handled it with good humour still intact  A lesser man could have blamed the missus for the whole unfortunate incident. Good karma heading your way. Mal


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Bad luck on the PFD troppo, but great to hear you wife is out and about again so that has to be a good thing to balance the loss


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Gotta take the good with the bad mate


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Its a bit of a shut the gate, after the horse has bolted, but I was thinking, it probably would be a good idea for us all to put our names and addresses on our PFDs. This would probably vastly improve the chance of some honest person, giving it back. There is also the more morbid, but still relevant, issue of finding a PFD at sea, so that perhaps the coroner may indicate that a King George whiting was probably responsible for ones dissappearance, should all the flesh be consumed. 

Cheers all Andybear :lol:


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

andybear said:


> . There is also the more morbid, but still relevant, issue of finding a PFD at sea, so that perhaps the coroner may indicate that a King George whiting was probably responsible for ones dissappearance, should all the flesh be consumed.


Maybe they could develop 'Whiting Shield' as a sister product to Shark Shield Andy :roll:


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Yes indeedy, I was considering making a whiting shield..... oddly enough, most people I have spoken to, seem to regard whiting as rather meek unoffensive menu item, something like a prawn cocktail. From personal experience, they have the speed and ferocity of a squirrel/weasel cross and a chain saw. Thats why I had to move to Brisbane. Those Adelaide waters were too dangerous.

Cheers all Andybear :lol:


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## Phoenix (Jan 12, 2006)

Troppo - check your PM's


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## Russ (Feb 24, 2006)

Troppo

Dont be down on yourself mate it's your wifes fault. If she had been there waitin for you with a towel and a trackie suit to keep you warm none of this would have happened. But look on the bright side, you dont have to do a report and tell us about ya fishless trip on the big white caps 

I think your beautiful wife should buy you one for xmas.

If ya do ever go parking on a moonlit night be sure to post a report :wink:

 fishing Russ


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

andybear said:


> . . . . it probably would be a good idea for us all to put our names and addresses on our PFDs. . . . There is also the more morbid, but still relevant, issue of finding a PFD at sea, so that perhaps the coroner may indicate that a King George whiting was probably responsible for ones dissappearance, should all the flesh be consumed.
> 
> Cheers all Andybear :lol:


Adding to Andybear's remark on names on PFDs, make it waterproof and, ah, well, . . . resistant to KGW stomach acid. I'll say no more.


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Thanks for the kind posts guys. I appreciate your thoughts.

Oh, Russ, trust you to notice my trip was fishless! I went to great efforts to hide that fact. One of these days when I work out how to put those split rings and hooks back on those lures I always drag around, I may indeed surprise you all by catching something. At least I don't get many snags.

:?


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