Sunday afternoon I was at the local lake (Lake Lansing) for some rescue practice. I did a wet exit in preparation for working on a re-entry. When I lifted the kayak up to drain the water out it slipped in my hand and bounced off of my face. Just a little bump (;)> so do it again right and then start on the re-entry. I’m floating in the lake maybe 100 yards off shore and someone said “did you lose a lens?” Indeed I had. Nothing to do about it out there so stuff the glasses in the PFD pocket & go on about the afternoon. About 1 1/2 hours later we were done & headed to shore. I portaged the kayak over to the car maybe 20 -30 yards & started drying out and loading up. I hung my PFD & skirt on one rack end while I was getting the boat sponged out & loaded along my other gear. The PFD & skirt went in with the rest. I changed clothes & chatted some and went back to the car. As I approached the car I see something laying on the ground just about under where the PFD had hung. Yes, it was the lens. I was able to have the glasses repaired today. How that lens stuck around with all we did on the water & didn’t come off until just by the car is a mystery. Maybe there is a pike in the lake that likes to do good deeds. I’m thinking that I won’t be fishing there.
1974 or 5 …PCZ we dirt biked down to the beach Pacific side. Went skiddy dinnping. I lost my “high tech” prescription transition darkening glasses in rough seas. Short story long, about 20 minutes later, buddy is yelling from down the beach. I get there he says reach between my feet really quick, oh hell no!!, (we were sailors). It turned out it was my glasses,
No $h!t. (another sea story qualifier indicating what follows or preceded is of total truthfulness)
You should fish there. No $h!t
It might have been a kind-hearted pike. I’ve told this story before, but I did a week-long backpacking trip, both ways on the Kekakabic Trail in the Boundary Waters back when the trail was still officially closed to the public, but the USFS would turn a blind eye if you seemed prepared for the trip. My buddy and I were fishing from a rocky shore that dropped off steeply, and being backpacking, I only brought an ultra-light outfit equipped with 4-pound mono. I was fishing with a leadhead jig and hooked a northern, and of course its teeth promptly cut that light line. A few minutes later, about 25 feet out from shore, a fish jumped, though I did not see it. I joked to my buddy that “it was probably that pike, trying to shake that jig loose from its mouth.” We fished a while longer, and as I turned to leave, there on the rocks at my feet was my lost jig! I only had one like it, and it was a specific model of a very unique brand which very few people would ever have access to, let alone having one and recently been fishing from this spot, and let alone dropping it after strangely cutting it off with four inches of line left on the head. Yup, it had to be mine, and the fish had indeed shaken it loose and sent it flying to shore.
Could have been Jesus reminding you he loves you and cares for all your needs. Better chance of that then a pike.
I lost my wedding ring while kayaking and didn’t notice until the next day. Went back to the lake and (even though it could have been anywhere in the 900 acre lake) it was 30 feet off shore and the water was clear. In the time that passed no one had taken it.
I wasn’t dressed for swimming and while looking at the ring a nice lady came by and went in to retrieve it for me. I was hoping to disappear when I put it on but alas it was really my ring.
As the title of the Paul Newman movie stated - somebody up there likes me.
I had another situation that was a close call. On a Spring Ozark Rendezvous eons ago, I arrived during an extended rain, only to see the entire troop pack up and go. ChuckIL was the only person other than myself who wanted to paddle, so thank goodness I had a shuttle partner for the next few days. One time, we launched after a break and Chuck was out ahead of me and I was trying to catch up, and I pass a pair of sunglasses suspended by a float. “Gosh, those look like Chuck’s sunglasses.” They were. I found out a few minutes later that they had washed off the deck of his kayak when he went through some waves. Naturally I reached for them. I grabbed the float and lifted, and that was all it took for the glasses to slip free and disappear in the depths. At least I got the float back. Good thing they made the float float, so it wouldn’t get lost.
So, the day before the Lake Lansing event we were on the Red Cedar, A small river that tends to collect wood here & there. I’m paddling stern and put my camera away in the vest pocket but don’t zip the pocket. We come through a tight spot & error a little & I feel a stick poike me. No big deal. The the next paddler comes through & exclaims “Look there’s a camera hanging here!”. Yep … It was mine.
Not paddling related, but years ago I was getting in my car and while standing next to it, I put my sunglasses on and took my eyeglasses and put them on the roof of the car. Someone spoke to me and I got distracted. Got in the car and drove home 15 miles away. When I got home, I looked for my eyeglasses on the passenger seat and they weren’t there. I then realized I had left them on the roof of the car. Drove all the way back and found them in the driveway of a very busy store, not a scratch on them!
Andy’s story reminded me when I left my Hullavator pivot pins on the top of my car roof, after removing the cradles from the rack. The next day, after driving around 10 miles to and around town, when I came to a stop sign one pin slid down my front windshield and stopped at the wiper blade. When I got out and grabbed it, the second pin was still on the roof, resting against the foot of the rack.
A friend some years ago was cleaning out his recently deceased dad’s house out in the country and I went up to help him. The property had a large vegetable garden and before I left that day he invited me to help myself to the abundance of tomatoes on the towering plants that were staked out there. I did so. As I was driving home I reached up for my nice mirrored sunglasses, which I usually kept perched on the top of my head, and found that they were gone. I called the friend and asked him to check around the house and he never found them.
Fast forward to the following summer -almost exactly a year later - the friend had decided to keep his Dad’s house and had moved into it. He had installed a hot tub and asked me to come up and help him hook up the power (electricians like me always have lots of friends!). While we were talking after I finished the wiring I asked if he was continuing his Dad’s nice veggie garden. Told me that he didn’t have time for that but the plot was full of the perennials like potatoes and plenty of “volunteer” tomatoes that had sprouted from the rotted fruit that ended up on the ground the previous year. Again told me to help myself. As I was selecting tomatoes from the sprawling vines in the unkempt plot something bright caught my eye. There, about 6 inches above the ground, were my mirrored sunglasses which a tomato vine had wound through and lifted above the soil! The hinges were a little corroded but the lenses were fine. Wore them from then on for years until I left them on the table in a cafe in Arizona and didn’t realize it until I was 300 miles down the road.
After a hike at Jones Gap , we were
getting ready to leave when a car pulled out ahead of us. A daypack fell off the roof and he was gone.
I left our contact info with a ranger .
A few hours later, the guy called and stopped by for his pack. The only things of real value in it were his prescription glasses and his hiking log.
It was a nice daypack but I didn’t need one.
