Tropical Depression hits Truman Reservoir

The following story is true. It happened to me about 24 years ago, while I was still a young man and was able to recover. I was inspired to write about it after reading a post about clam farming during an approaching storm by my good friend FC. The event came back to me clear as a bell while reading FC's post!



I had just purchased my new Catalina 22' sail boat, and was anxious to get her into the water and set sail. It was Memorial Day weekend and I was planning to stay on the boat the entire time. I put her into the water early in the morning and set sail. The Catalina is set up so that a single person can sail it, especially with a roller furling on the jib. Of course, mine was on order and hadn't arrived yet. Besides, I knew that my friends were bringing their boat down later and I was going to meet up with them near the dam. So off I sailed, from Sterrit Creek Marina out past the dam, alone!

I had sailed for about three hours, with a fantastic straight line wind and no gusts. That's when I looked to the northwest, and saw the pitch black skies just beyond the tree line on the shore. Now there was nothing in the weather reports that morning, and I was about 5 miles from the trees that the storm was behind, so I thought "Ok, I've got time to get the sails down and motor back in", so that was my plan.

I pointed into the wind, which had calmed somewhat, and lashed the tiller so that I could go up on the forward deck to drop the jib. As I mentioned earlier the roller furling would have been nice right about now! I get to the jib and get it about half way down, when I feel a gust of wind hit. I look up and think: "No way!", the sky above me is black and the storm is upon me! The next gust of wind fills the jib and lifts me about 2 ft off the deck of the boat. I was much thinner and lighter then, I would be used as ballast on a ship nowadays. The wind slacks and I hurriedly race to drop the sail and lash it. Too late, the wind hits again, only stronger. It tries to lift me again, but luckily my foot catches on the forward hatch hinge and holds me to the boat. I always sail barefoot because I use my feet to help hold lines, sort of like an extra pair of hands. Lightnin says I have prehensile toes! However, this gust also fills the main sail and knocks me down. A knock down is when the ship rolls so far to one side that the sail hits the water, something I would have rather not ever see on my 22 footer. I'm holding onto the jib with all of my strength, staring straight at the water and thinking "Well life's been good, but I guess when it's time to go...." when the wind slacks again and the boat rights. I get the jib down and lashed just as the pouring rain starts.

At this point I'm being tossed around like a cork in the lake, but I see a speed boat flying towards me heading back to the marina. I yell to them to grab my bow line and pull me directly into the wind. They understandably look at me like I'm insane, so I quickly explain that the main sail will flutter rather than fill and I would be able to drop and lash it. They do as I ask and I get the sail down and lashed and the toss the line back to me and head in as fast as they could.

I now head back to the cockpit and drop the outboard into the water. I crank on all 4.5 hp of the Johnson, and try to head back to the marina . Now you need to understand that the waves are now more like swell than I have ever seen on a lake so my motor is actually coming out of the water with each crest, and I'm saying to myself "I gotta get a bigger motor!". The wind is now blasting straight out of the North, and I'm getting pelted with rain you know, the big thunderstorm sized drops, but at least the situation is somewhat under control. I'm not moving any closer to the marina, but I'm floating top side up, and staying in one place.

The storm eventually passes and I finally make it back to the marina, where I find my friends under cover waiting for the storm to pass so that they could launch their boat. They help me tie up, help me off of the boat, and then see my foot. "Holy cow, you'd better get that looked at!" one of them said. I looked down at my foot, and for the first time felt the massive pain. The hatch hinge had ripped the skin off of the top of my big toe and had bunched it up against my toe nail. At the time it happened, that was the least of my worries! They also told me that they had let the water patrol know that I was out there and probably was in need of assistance. To which the water patrol officer stated, "There's no way I'm going out there in this. Once it calms down I'll head out!" I remember waving to him on my way back in, as he went past me to see if anyone else still needed help.

I later found out that this freak storm that came out of the Northwest, not the Southwest like normal, was traveling at 60mph and was throwing wind out at over 70mph! I never thought that I'd ever see a tropical storm on Truman Reservoir!