Always Be Prepared

by Steve “Tuna” Tornovish

Be prepared! Ah, yes, the old Boy Scout motto. No better time to be prepared than when you’re out on some remote beach, far from what passes for civilization on this little island of ours. It’s important to remember the 6 P’s: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance! Here’s a couple entries from my fishing log that illustrates the importance of preparedness.

“Headed out at 11:00 pm. A guy was stuck in the sand near the Eel Point access. Popped him out with my tow strap. Finally got fishing. Black Sluggo only. Caught my standard issue 24-inch striper on about my seventh cast, just west of the fence. No one else there. Fished another hour, not even a hit.” Not the best night of fishing, but that’s not what this is about.

The Eel Point beach access has a narrow little passage filled with real soft sand. It’s like a bear trap for low clearance vehicles. This man had a Subaru wagon of some sort, equipped with 4-wheel drive. He told me that it generally scoots out to his fishing spot and back with no problem. This night, however, the lowrider SUV got bottomed out in the soft sand, and its wheels just spun. The man said he’d been stuck there for about an hour. Not to worry, my friend – Boy Scout Stevie is here to help! I opened up my black toolbox that lives in the back of my truck. The box contains, amongst other things, a heavy-duty nylon strap with steel hooks and buckles. It was exactly the right tool for the job. We fastened the strap on to each vehicle. I backed my truck up, the strap stretched taut and the Subaru popped right out.

So let’s roll back the tape and review this event: Getting stuck on the beach or finding someone stuck on the beach is not a particularly unusual event on Nantucket. You need to plan for these fateful occasions. My dumb self has been stuck plenty over the years, so I’ve developed some expertise the hard way. Hardly ever was I prepared to assist in my own rescue during those past events. Grey hair does have some benefits, of course. My toolbox now contains the nylon strap and hooks as well as long, heavy duty jumper cables (don’t cheap out here – get the good ones), a complete first aid kit, a little shovel/entrenching tool, a fire extinguisher, a small but sturdy plywood board, and a mini air compressor that can plug into ports inside my truck for power. Also, I’ve added some heavy duty plastic treads to stick under a stuck tire, and they’re lifesavers!

Did I earn my Boy Scout merit badge for this? Um, let’s talk about my short but memorable career as a Boy Scout… When I was maybe 11 years old, the Nantucket Boy Scouts were holding a campout at their really neat camp site, Camp Richard. This camp is in Nantucket’s State Forest, located in the central portion of the island. I recall that I was paired up with my buddy Mikey Ramos for this campout, the very same Mikey whose plumbing truck I ride around in when not fishing. Lifelong friends! We pitched our little Boy Scout tents on Friday night and did our campout stuff that night, telling ghost stories around a campfire and such.

Saturday morning was beautiful, filled with the promise of a fun day of scouting adventures and whatever else was scheduled, hopefully to include breakfast. The splendor of the morning was rudely interrupted by a highly agitated scoutmaster. It seems that a couple of the older kids had kept him awake during the night and now it was payback time. The scoutmaster told us to pack all of our gear up and prepare for a five-mile hike.

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