FORKS — Rescuers of three fishermen on the Sol Duc River have recovered the drift boat that had been stuck in the water after the rescue.
Although the three fishermen — Chuck Westfall, 75, and Michael Westfall, 34, both of Everett, and Ted Grindle, 74, of Lake Forest Park — were rescued Jan. 29, the boat could not be pulled from the river at that time.
The group tried to pull the boat, which had taken on water, stranding the men, on Jan. 30, but the river was swollen with rainwater, so it was delayed until last Wednesday, said Ryan Thomas, one of the rescuers of both the men and the boat.
“After we bailed the water out of it, we pushed out and floated it down the rapids,” Thomas said.
A fellow rescuer, Jack Iotte, hung on the outside of the boat until calmer waters before getting it to the shore, Thomas said.
Grindle, who owned the boat, took it home from there, Thomas said.
“The boat is totally ruined, but he took it home,” Thomas said.
“It is pretty bad.”
Thomas said it isn’t uncommon for people who are not familiar with the rivers to overflow the boats in the rapids and sink them.
“I’ve never sunk a boat, but I’ve been on these rivers since I was 14 years old,” said the fishing and hunting guide.
“This will keep happening.
“These rivers are not something to mess with.”
