SHRINKAGE! Biggest Balls Winner Takes One…Two For The Team!
Out in the Atlantic Ocean. What a beautiful site.
Fellow Woody Boater and biggest balls winner David Konick, loves to go out into the Atlantic Ocean in his trusty Sea Skiff. Miles out. Sometimes 35 miles out. He always sends pictures of his Old man in The Sea catches. And we always ask for reference shots. Well, here ya go. Today’s header says it all. Davids email says it better. HA. Was there a bit of a warm spot around you there David? here is Davids email, just as spelled I might add! Who needs editors, we don’t need no stinkn editors!
headed out, in, I have no idea.
Thats a hump back whale. Hey, at least he captures the ripple!
The fruits of ones labor and risking his life. By the way, there is a grocery store on every block! They sell fish!
“hey I even yumped overboard on Oct 5th 10 miles out in the ocean risking being ate by sharks or whales to get you some of these, the water was so f—-ing cold, maybe this year I’ll get the smallest shrivelled up balls of the year award!”
dAVE
Another version of the header shot. When the header goes down we can all enjoy the fruits of Davids shriveled up prunes.
Dang! I wish I had the courage to do this in my classic boat. My rule is, I need to be able to swim to land from where ever I am boating.
I am humbled. I get the sweats just leaving the launch ramp, and I have SeaTow on speed dial with my finger poised above the button as I back down the ramp. That man must have a dolly under his to move around.
Don’t they have any fish closer in? Hope he used a tether line, I’d be curious if Sea Tow comes out that far. Dave’s definitely gotta a pair. Carefully of that fender cleat climbing back in, ouch. Sweet lookin’ Sea Skiff, love the soft hull color.
Forget sea tow, What about a plank popping off, or some storm that spins up fast. OUCH! We dont even really go out in the bay for all that reason.In a new boat. All day long, 5200 on a old boat, all day long.. but dang!
keep in mind, one of these fine vessels is reasoably available!
I have been on the search all summer for the right one to have as a DRY all weather ride. The Hacker is a wet ride on a windy day, so says my wife…
I just love stories about that crazy@%?!! And of course Lapestrakes Rule!
That’s why they call ’em SEA Skiffs and that’s why lapstrakes rule!
What a nutbag !
Let’s see, with fuel costs, tackle, bait, lunch, radio service, cell service, boat maintenance etc, the cost per pound for those two little fishes is about $195.00 / lb.
Must be the adventure portion as no fish tastes that good.
Yikes!
Here on the north shore of Lake Ontario things can get pretty dang rough pretty dang fast. The Atlantic can do the same with even more malaice . Even though we have a coast guard station here in Cobourg (one of the few on the Canadian side of the lake) I would not even contemplate going out more than a couple miles (not even in a strake) without alternate motive power lashed on the stern i.e. a small outboard with retractable bracket or a in a pinch a sail!
It`s a lapstrake thing
I use a white 22 Sea Skiff same as his, Lapstrakes are the best.. Dave deserves some kind of monetary award for jumping in the cold ocean to get these pictures for us. What a guy.
1) Life jacket
2) Tether
3) VHF
4) EPIRB (emergency beacon)
5) Self-inflating life raft
6) Excellent Scotch (in case the above all fail)
At least a lifeline trailing astern attached to a float (BTW six packs float).
I dont see any baby outboard on that lapstrake.
I remember buying my first woody boat, the 58 Resorter. I said to the guy,” so what happens if the engine craps out? Wheres the auxiliary motor?” He showed me the single paddle! There aint no way I’d go that far out to sea.
Great shot taken from the water by the way!
Seen vessel out there, God is looking out for some of us.
“The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water, then blurring, then etching again and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Alex – Im not sure the etching ducks would help when one of those planks parts company.
” He heard the snap of a bronze fastener giving way,the sea on which he had moments before been afloat immediately burbled uninvited into the butter yellow hull.
As the chill Atlantic embraced his rapidly shrinking namesake he looked skyward to a flight of wild ducks, hopeful that somehow they would make him feel less alone. They didn’t.”
– Philip Andrew, Theres No Fool Like An Old Fool.
David is a great guy and tenacious,
as the pictures from the water prove. Loves to go out there fishing. As they say, whatever turns you on.
there once was a man on the shore
who never bought fish in the store
with balls of brass, he could whip any ass
as he fished 40 miles from the shore
… at least a small/durable inflatable with an emergency air bottle to keep you OUT of the water until a rescue could be effected (from your VHF/beacon/cel phone call).
Even when I had my FG sailboat (no chance for loose planks here) this was my first purchase to be carried aboard. In Puget Sound waters (WA state) you probably could not survive until rescue arrived after a VHF call. In my racing days here three deaths occured due to hypothermia.
Dear God, be good to me;
The sea is so wide,
And my boat is so small.
Philip Andrew, thanks for the great humor. Made my day.
Hey Matt and Texx, how ’bout a WB Poetry Contest? There are some budding poets in our midst.
I took my 1948 22 ft Sportsman (original bottom) 250 miles from Manhattan to Annapolis; by the ocean route. I was only a few miles offshore the coast, but was more than that in the DE Bay. When the seas built to be coming over the bow, we finally headed for shore.
I use mine like they meant it to be used in ’48. I go everywhere, day, night, even 42 mph winds in a storm (not my choice, it caught us). It is not uncommon to go 50-75 miles in a day. Just let the hull do the work and be prepared to get very wet.
These sorts of trips and adventures are more fun in a wood boat; one has to treat the seas with more respect. And the way they ride, they way the sound is absorbed by the wood, is wonderful.
Plan an adventure! And bring shark repellent and a raft..
So hats off to this gent, he is confident of the wood beneath him, he uses the boat without restrictions, and he enjoys the ride more, for he is constantly viewing his surroundings framed by wood.
I am proud of Mr. Konick for representing the Sea Skiff contingent- he started with an excellent, well-cared for hull (a rare and very early-build 1954 model) and has done a tremendous restoration on her. He knows and trusts the boat’s capabilities and his own local knowledge, and I believe the two make a natural team- a salty, swash-buckling fisherman fully utilizing a boat that is truly in its element doing serious saltwater fishing.
Lapstrake hulls are great in big and rough seas, and much has been said about a lapstrake’s supposed ability to attract fish due to the unique sounds and bubble-trails created with this hull construction.
The Chris*Craft Sea Skiff, in particular, was notably durable because the 5-ply marine plywood strakes were not only mechanically fastened but also sealed and bonded from keel to seat risers with Chris*Craft Sea Skiff Sealer (CC’s moniker for Thiokol), a tenacious early ancestor of 5200 adhesive sealants developed during WWII. Sea Skiffs have lightweight and flexible but immensely strong hulls, and their simple, rugged style ensures that few boats could look more at home when used as ‘balls-out’ sportfishing platforms.
Mr. Konick’s boat seems happy and willing to indulge his greatest Hemingway-esque adventures on the open ocean. I’m sure he would tell you the fish taste much better when landed on a trusty and well-loved vintage boat than bought on ice at the local fishmonger! Keep on fishin’ that sweet old 22, and keep the stories coming, OK? Your fellow Sea-Skiffers admire your moxie!