Paul Arden | Tuesday, 29 July 2025
I’m not entirely sure how I managed it, there wasn’t a load bang, but travelling down the lake last night, just before 1am, I managed to roll the boat. Possibly it’s the extra weight with the 4-stroke 25hp I’ve fitted that had something to do with it, but I have no idea what I hit. Whatever it was, I found myself in the middle of the lake, swimming in the dark, with the boat inverted!
It took me two hours to reach the shoreline so I could flip it back over. Two hours of holding on to fly rods while paddling and kicking. And then, once I had finally reached the bloody shore, I couldn’t flip the boat back over until dawn appeared at 6.45am.
It really was quite an exciting evening. Ten years on the lake, I’ve had a few boats sink on me during thunderstorms, but this is the first time that I’ve actually managed to roll one under power!
I don’t seem to have lost many things. The battery has gone but there is a possibility that I might locate it with my swimming goggles in the morning. The same goes for the spot lamp on the front. Both were there when I landed at shore (as the mystery photo of the day shows) but neither are with me now. I lost my headlamp too when I flipped over. But all in all I seem to have come out quite well. A few grazes on the chest from trying to swim on the hull but amazingly most of the things that I could have lost stayed under the hull while paddling to shore.
I do like these adventures and they keep me feeling young. I guess that’s what drives Stuntman Ronan too. I must say though, that if I go through the rest of life without flipping another boat, I won’t be disappointed.
Tomorrow I’m heading to KL to pickup a 115hp 4-stroke and if I can’t get my newly sunk engine going again then I’ll drop that off with my mechanics friends in Gerik on the way. I can’t seem to be able to remove the spark plugs at the moment, so we shall see if I can manage this after my Zoom flycasting lesson this evening.
Lucky that the water here is 32/33C. I wouldn’t fancy that evening in cold water and would have probably had to abandon boat and swim to shore. I would have liked to have had a fire in the small hours. Think I’ll pack some fire starters and a lighter in a waterproof bag for such random events. It did get quite chilly around 5am and so I sat in the lake!!
Have a nice week.
Cheers, Paul