Quote:
Originally Posted by bracks
Seems wise to carry a manual bilge pump but what other situations have you seen it useful beyond a shark puncturing the yak?
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I have and almost always carry my hand bilge pump. Of course the one day I forgot it in my truck, was the really slow fishing day at LJ that got so boring the I started taking video of the shore, etc. After a while I was not paying attention to the rollers and as I was panning with my camera from behind to the front of the kayak my movement on my Hobie Revo 13 CT seat caused a shift towards the shore side of my kayak just as a large roller lifted the rear of the kayak. Before I could even say "OH SHIT!" my body was going over the side and over my rod in the holder. By total reaction as I'm going over I reach to try and catch myself by grabbing the rod. Of course that caused the kayak to roll and turtle. Not the first time I've rolled a kayak in deep water, 110' but the first on the Hobie. I try to roll it back over and all the leashes on the rods and tackle box keep getting tangled on my legs. As I get untangled and try to roll it back over, I realize that it is not as easy as the Malibu X13 I had done it with once in the past. As I'm trying to roll it back over I see that a bunch of other kayakers saw me and are coming to help. I feel stupid because I know I have the knowledge and self rescue step to do it. But I swallow my pride and let them help me. After I get back in I realize the kayak has a lot of water from just being upside down and water entering the front hatch. The one time I did not have my pump had me making my way back 1 1/2 miles with 25+ gallons of water inside and the Hobie wanting to roll and list every time a roller caught up and passed me, as the water inside would shift toward the front of the kayak. It was a horrible feeling, that would have been an easy remedy had I had my hand bilge pump. I also could have just continued fishing the rest of the day instead of calling it early. It only takes one time of not having it to possibly make it life or death.