The boat floated - the truck didn't

Wednesday was going to be such a good day for a Mount Vernon family.

Mike Tucker’s wife, Barb, and their family members were kayaking out to Hole in the Wall on the Swinomish Channel.

Tucker was going to follow along in his little fishing boat, just in case someone wanted a tow back.

The kayaks launched without a hitch — and as his wife paddled by, Tucker waved her on.

She didn’t know their truck was under water, and her husband’s arms and legs were all skinned up.

While the kayaks were getting underway from the Triton docks across from Maple Hall in La Conner, Tucker was launching his little boat at the Sherman Street launch.

It was slack low tide, and he got the boat unhooked from the trailer and had the plug in. When he got back in his truck and released the break to pull forward, his Ford F150 started sliding backward.

The truck would not stop sliding toward the water, with the trailer helping to pull it along. When it was apparent things weren’t going to end well, “I was able to get out the door,” he said.

He was half out of the truck when he was knocked down and bruised and lost skin off his left arm and both legs as he tumbled down the boat launch.

Tucker got to his feet in time to see his truck drift in the water for a little while, with the cab bobbing, then it sunk completely. It came to rest just north of the Rainbow Bridge.

A few minutes later as his wife kayaked by, he didn’t let on that he was injured.

“I didn’t want to ruin their time,” he said.

After the paramedics bandaged his wounds, Tucker walked up to Calico Cupboard for a cup of coffee. His right shoe was lost at sea, but he still had a sock on that foot.

He was sitting in the shade of a picnic table umbrella outside the La Conner Kayak building on the Triton deck when he saw his family members paddling back. Laughter drifted up from the docks below as his wife’s kayak pulled in. “Oh good. She’s having a good time,” he said.

Wednesday was Tucker’s first time launching in La Conner. Ordinarily low tide isn’t an issue with his little boat. But, “I didn’t know that launch was so treacherous and slippery at low tide,” he said.

Next time, he said, he’s not taking any chances, and he’ll launch at the travel lift at the La Conner Marina.