I'm on a tidal river which, much like yours Hasbeen, can vary from about 6" in spring time to a lot!
Now follows a story.........
A friend of mine had recently purchased a land rover discovery, very much standard but a capable 4x4 nonetheless. I mentioned that the river near me is a reletively safe but exciting off road excursion as long as the tide is out, this time unfortunately for me it wasn't completely out.
I had spent a few minutes trying to get my mate to cross the river. He was not that enthusiastic complaining that the river looked "quite full" and that he didn't have a snorkle. I told him he was being a big girls blouse and ventured in saying i'd radio him once i'd got across to say it's safe. This is what happened......
I drove in, maybe 2nd low box, could of been third. The front wheels dropped straight in and within seconds my bonnet had dissapeared along with my tail lights (which incedentally are quite high up on a defender). Realising my mistake and, by now, inability to turn around i had no choice but to nail it and hope for the best. Being in low 2nd or 3rd means you can hit max revs very easilly so being at max revs i had little in the way of a "get out of jail free card" by applying more revs. I was now about 5' deep with a waterline accross my windscreen, had tunnel vision through pure fear and getting dragged out to sea by the current, i could actually hear the pebbles being turned over by my tyres dragging them sideways whilst at full lock. Within seconds the bonnet raised signalling the ascent to the shore and i was now stationary on the bank. I felt sick, a mixture of adrenaline and the realisation of what could of happened is not a good feeling.
I radio'd back saying something along the lines of "for gods sake don't drive accross" and then saw a bunch of kids running towards me from the local pub on that side of the river. They'd seen the land rovers lights go under the water and i'd assume they were expecting something more serious. I wound down my window and was greeted with "alright mate, if i give you a fiver will ya take me back accross"
Let's just say the air turned blue and i continued a half hour road trip to avoid going through that river again. This will shock a few of you that i didn't break down, especially the ozzies who love their Jap 4x4s but i feel that if i was in any other 4x4 then i wouldn't be here now. That was THE most serious situation i've ever been in!
Rivers are for looking at and sailing on, not for driving through!
Rob
