Had a paddle boating accident

"StingrayJake" (stingrayjake) 09/21/2014 at 01:14 • Filed to: Boats

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Spoiler alert: nobody died.

I did however fry my old iPhone 4S and lose a pair of Ray-Ban aviators. And possibly ever having my wife's trust again any time we're near water.

Unlike the picture, we were not wearing life jackets, though we were at the dock, which probably kept something much worse from happening.

I was already in the boat and the wife was trying to climb in. The boat was lined up head on with the dock so rather than going in from the side she was having to get over the front edge and then turn around.

She sat on the dock and went in feet first. As she started pushing herself off the dock, the boat started getting further away with her feet still in it. My aunt was holding the rope but it was getting too far for my wife to continue holding herself suspended over the water.

The wife fell in. The sudden shift in weight caused the boat to flip on my side. Somehow it popped both of us in the head. Thankfully we were close to the dock and had something to grab. I'm just over 6 foot tall, the water was at my neck, and my feet weren't anywhere near a bottom.

My wife was having a full blown anxiety attack and my focus was on getting her around the dock and to a ladder. I knew my phone, which was in a velcroed pocket, was toast. Didn't even realize I'd lost my sunglasses and hat (hat was saved). My college ring ($1,500 chunk of gold) was in between knuckles. Still don't know how I saved it.

Slowly got the wife around to the ladder and we got out. It was pretty traumatic. But nobody died. Except my phone.

Moral of the story: Don't get in a paddle boat with your phone in your pocket.

Arben72 > StingrayJake 09/21/2014 at 01:18

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Throw the phone in a bag of rice overnight. I sunk one of those things before, I know the feeling. Also learn how to swim, it could save your life some day.

StingrayJake > Arben72 09/21/2014 at 01:24

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I can swim and pretty sure the wife can too. Her anxiety is the issue. It would just be too much to handle. And there's no way I could have swam both of us to shore.

As for the rice, pretty sure mine is too far gone. Besides, kind of gives me an excuse to make an overdue upgrade.