FORKS — Three fishermen were rescued Saturday from the Sol Duc River after their drift boat snagged on rocks and took on water.
The men walked through the swift-moving river while holding a rope to reach the boat of hunting and fishing guide Ryan Thomas, a Forks resident who rigged the safe passage after anchoring nearby.
The men waded away from their nearly half-submerged boat to safety at 4:05 p.m., about 2 ½ hours after they became stranded in rapids about a mile downriver from the U.S. Highway 101 overpass near Whitcomb-Dimmel Road.
Chuck Westfall of Everett, 75, said he was “completely exhausted” — though relieved — by the time he climbed into Thomas’ boat.
“Of course, the water was rushing so fast, it was about to knock me over,” he said.
His son, Michael Westfall, 34, of Everett, and Ted Grindle, 74, of Lake Forest Park were also in the stranded boat.
The elder Westfall said his son and Grindle tried to push the boat off the rocks before it took on water.
“It was just so heavy,” he said, “because it was almost completely full of water.”
Fishing guide Sean Orr, who came across them and notified authorities, said it may have been a good thing that they weren’t able to push the boat loose.
They may have not been able to get back into it, he said, “and I don’t think I could have gotten them out of there.”
Chuck Westfall said they were stuck for about an hour before Orr came along with two customers.
He said they had a cell phone with them but mistakenly believed it had been washed downstream with some of their gear.
Orr of Olympia said Thomas, who owns Thomas Guide Service, was phoned and asked to try to reach them.
Thomas, 27, who was home after a day on the river, grabbed his friend, Quentin Reaume, some rope and put his boat back in the water.
“When we got there, we saw these three guys, and they were stranded and their boat was sunk,” Thomas said Saturday night. “They were still in the boat, but it was full of water.”
He had the men tie the rope to their boat and then throw the other end back to him.
Thomas tied it to another rope and held on tight while they clutched the lifeline and stumbled through white water to safety.
“I hung onto it to make sure I could keep the slack out of it,” Thomas said.
Reaume kept Thomas’ boat stable so that Thomas could deal with holding the rope. He also hung onto the tail end of the rope, so that if Thomas slipped, the rope would stay secure.
“He helped a lot,” Thomas said.
Once the men made it to his boat, Thomas said, he “cranked up the heater and got them warm.”
Then, Orr said, the two “split the load” and got the three men to the Rayonier boat ramp.
An ambulance and Clallam County sheriff’s deputies met them there. The men did not need medical attention, said Sgt. Brian King.
Chuck Westfall said their waders kept them dry.
“These guys don’t know these rivers, and that’s why they get in trouble,” Thomas said, adding that his late father, Larry Thomas, “was a guide here for 40 years, and that’s why I know how to row these rivers.”
Today, a group plans to return to the Sol Duc River to see if they can pull the damaged boat out.
Thomas said he’ll be with the group but that he won’t be wading in the river.
“I just had knee surgery, so I’m not going do that,” he said.
Orr said the part of the river where the three were stranded, called the “Double Run,” is known for its rapids.
“The No. 1 thing I’ve learned for 25 years up here is that you need to know the river before you try and row the Sol Duc,” Orr said, “because it’s a different animal.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
