Story: Naked and cold in Alaska

I was visiting my uncle Dan who lived up in danger bay, near Kodak island, Alaska. We were out on a small bay in the Pacific Ocean riding in a tin skiff looking for deer along the shoreline, that’s just how it was done up there.
The options for deer were many and we finally settled on one in particular grazing on the backside of a sandy beach. Now being on a tin skiff in the ocean trying to aim at a object on shore has its own challenges. Then factor that I had never shot a rifle other than a practice round a day prior to this trip. The odds of me hitting anything were low but I was the guest on the boat so I got the first shot which turned out to be the first 3 shots, the deer up their don’t spook easily. We finally decided to to pull up on the shore 30 feet from this deer hunker down and try again. Now I was still feeling a little woozy from the boat so my 4th shot was a little off target and let’s just say uncle Dan took over after that and finished the job. Now that could be a story in itself but it’s just getting started. As we were dressing the deer on the beach one of us looked back and to our horror saw the skiff drifting out into the ocean. Now we were far from any town so losing this skiff could have meant big problems.. It was a pretty moderate temperature as far as early winter in Alaska goes but the water was ice cold and my uncle Dan painstakingly new what needed to be done. He stripped down naked, took a few deep breathes, and sprinted into the water. At this point the skiff was about 25 yards straight out. But by the time he got to it it was closer to 40. That’s a long time to be in the water. I new he was ok when I saw his big white and blue butt roll up and over the side of the skiff. To add to the situation the motor was cold and it took 10 or so cranks to get it going. Although I felt pretty concerned at the time it was hard not to laugh watching my naked uncle putting everything he had into this motor. When he got back to shore, a few naked laps up and down the beach and putting his dry clothes back on seemed to fight off the hypothermia. We loaded the deer onto the boat and set off. The only regret I have from this trip is that I didn’t pull out the camera I had in my pocket during this whole event. -Brian Lee-

July 10, 2017 Brian Lee