I was trolling near the reef and got too near so my $20 yo-zuri got hung up. I use 50 pound braid so I could have just broken off but who wants to lose a $20 lure?? The bigger waves were only coming every few minutes so I figured I could jet in and get on top of my lure and free it. (You see where this is going don't you?) So of course I got close and managed to get my own line wrapped around the kayak, which shouldn't be a huge deal. Worst case scenario you can pedal my kayak hard enough to easily snap the line in an emergency. Problem was the line snagged on my rudder! This particular rudder moves up and down for storage and the line was hung on it and pulling it out of the water. Well on these pedal kayaks, without a rudder u just go in circles, especially when you are anchored to the reef with 50 lb test.
I knew immediately I was in a bad situation but I still had a few lingering thoughts to try to save my lure. Luckily, sanity hit me within a few seconds of floundering in circles and I realized that if I didn't get out of there really soon, an overhead wave was going to slam me onto dry reef a mile out to sea. Not a life and death scenario, but one to be avoided whenever possible! :) And to add to the drama, at that point I saw the next set wave pushing towards me and I realized I only had seconds. So once reality hit me so did the adrenaline. I grabbed the Pacific salt in my waistband and opened it with my right hand (my rod was still in my left and I was trying to hold onto that) and opened it quickly. I reached behind me in an awkward position and managed to touch the edge against that 50lb braid and it parted instantly. I pedaled as fast as I could and just scraped over the oncoming wave before it broke on the reef head. Safe! :)
The point of this story is how well my tool worked when it was important. Spend enough time out there and this kind of thing can (and will) happen on the water and it is literally a SHTF scenario that can end poorly. If I didn't have the knife conveniently clipped to my waist I would have been in trouble. If I didn't have a knife with a large functional spyderhole that opened quickly and flawlessly I would have been in trouble. If I didn't have a knife with razor sharp teeth/edge, I would have been in trouble. But thanks to Sal Glesser and Spyderco I had all of those things and I managed to evade trouble one more time! So thank you Sal and everyone at Spyderco for building tools that WORK when you need them! :)
Ok, it's almost daylight and I'm heading back to that reef for my revenge. I will update this thread with a picture of whatever I bring back from the rematch.
Keep em sharp boys, you never know when it's gonna matter!
