First Stuck Truck Of The Year

Yesterday We Helped These Folks That Got Stuck On The Beach.

I was at Cape Yesterday with Andrew throwing lures into choppy waves and using the wind to throw a mile. It was cold and I hate wind. After about a half an hour I had enough wind and needed to get back to the shop and make more gear anyway. We were taking a break from the slave cave, working on New Years Day.

I posted a picture of the trucks on the beach, first casts of the year type thing. Greg Kaczmarczyk posted under my picture. “Where ya at?? I stopped to help (stuck vehicle) now I’m stuck. At Fenwick.” I answered I just came out of Cape Henlopen State Park, headed to route 1. They call and tell me the situation … “I can be there in 15 minutes”. On the way someone approved his post asking for help on the DSF group page, that is important later.
Greg stopped to help this truck that had been stuck for a couple of hours. He got stuck trying to pull them out. When I arrived I figure out why, the truck is buried to the frame.

Well , looks like we are doing a lot of digging. He tried to pull them out again and there is just too much sand holding the truck up on the frame and the wheels are just spinning. We have to completely dig out the frame and drop the truck onto its wheels. We try jacking it up to put sand under the tires, but that is futile, the jack won’t go up high enough. By this time a ranger has arrived. That was a conversation we had at first with these folks, no tag, no gear.
Stuck Truck … “We just decided to drive onto the beach before we left town”.
Me … “Did you see the big red sign that said that would be a bad idea?”
Stuck Truck .. “Yes, but we have four wheel drive so we figured it was fine.”
“ME … “Okay so you only read half the sign. No worries we can get you out it is going to take a couple of hours. If you are lucky a ranger won’t show up and give you a multitude of tickets.”
The girls are visibly upset they have been here for hours.

Twenty minutes later the ranger pulls up. We go through that ordeal of who is the truck owner etc. The stuck truck folks try to call a tow truck on his advice. Coastal Towing apparently doesn’t come to Fenwick Island, everyone else is closed. One of the girls is in tears.
Greg and I look at each other and tell them … “Look if we all dig this out for another half hour which is about all the sunlight you have left we can get it out.” It is literally close to being dug out anyway at this point. The ranger grabs his shovel and helps, Kudos for that!

The front end drops on the suspension, the back end drops on its suspension. There is only a little bit of sand now under the drive train. The tires were aired down earlier that is when we discover one has maybe five pounds of air, it is flat. I look at the girls and say I will drive the truck out of the hole as Greg pulls. When I get in I notice the truck is in four wheel low, second big mistake. I put it in four wheel high. Greg gives a yank with his Jeep, and starts to dig in, he stops for a second, but the truck moved a tad. Just for grins and giggles I hit the gas. The truck lifts out of the hole on its own and it is on the beach now. Which is great because it is about dark, the sun has dropped below the dunes.

I ask Greg and Joanna to drive my truck off the beach for me, I am going to drive the stuck truck out for these people. The girls are relieved, they are going home after hours of being stuck on a deserted beach. Now there are tears of joy and relief. The ranger has mercy on them and gives them a warning. Which I thought was very cool, we got them out, no harm no foul. It is New Year’s Day, everyone could use a break once in a while. They have been stuck out here for hours, that is enough of a lesson in and of itself.

The truck drives off with no issues even with a flat tire. We air them up and send them on their way. They learned a valuable lesson, and we got our first “atta-boy” for the year, on the first day of 2020.
Yes it is annoying to see people drive on the beach without tags etc. But there is no reason to not help them, making fun of them is a given, but then you help. Because everyone no matter how good they think they can drive on the beach gets stuck at some point. I honestly think parks should allow the rangers to help pull vehicles, but they are not allowed. Maybe at least have a service or vehicle available in each park that can pull vehicles. Just sign a damage waiver and call it a day. No tow companies would come help, or were closed.

The ranger pulls up on his way out, I thanked him for the help. “Hey how did you know there was a stuck truck on the beach? I only put a picture on my personal page. ”
“Oh I follow your DSF pages, I saw the post about someone stuck needing help. ”
Good to know they follow the pages and came out to make sure everyone was okay, this is not the time of year you want to get stuck on a beach. There is rarely anyone on the beaches in the winter who can help you. There are ways to get yourself unstuck without another vehicle, we will show you those on the next few weeks.
This is why you bring a real shovel, and those small folding shovels, you will need both in cases like this.

By the way we are going to start a pool in a couple of months to guess the amount of vehicles stuck on the beaches in 2020. Because it will be fun.

Fish On!
Rich King