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here was a rare traffic jam just outside Oriental Wednesday afternoon. A 70-year old wooden boat on a trailer got stuck coming out of a driveway, and along with the truck cab pulling it, blocked both lanes of Oriental Road just on the other side of the bridge.

Outside the channel. A 40-foot cruiser, its trailer and truck block Oriental Road Wednesday afternoon.

“I wasn’t trying to go anywhere,” said Ron Diamond, who owns the boat and is trying to sell it. “I was just trying to straighten it out.” He wanted to move the boat to a shadier spot in his yard than the one where he had it.

The trailer he was using, however, had at least one flat tire, a problem that was compounded when the trailer strayed from the center of the hard driveway and on to the softer ground closer to the ditch. There it stayed for a few hours.

Ron Diamond phones for help with the tow.

Motorists wanting to get beyond that spot had to turn around, cross the bridge, drive out of town, down Kershaw Road to Janeiro Road, a 10 mile detour. At least one person walked over the bridge to get to work, rather than drive that far out of the way.

One or two vehicles did try to pass on the shoulder which was extremely soft given all the rain of late. One jeep got mired in the soggy ditch along that side of the road. Paul Welles, a professional boat hauler who happened to be coming from the other direction, hitched the jeep to his truck. Along with some pushing, the jeep got free.

Getting unstuck. Roy Tiexiera and Adam Dixon push to free a jeep with help from Paul Welles whose truck pulled.

Getting the trailer cab and the big boat moved, however, would take longer. Fortunately, no emergency vehicles needed to get by while the road was blocked.

To the rescue. Royce and Sharon Anderson of R & S Towing arrived from Merritt.

Photos of the boat rescue on land follow:

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Posted Thursday June 18, 2009 by Melinda Penkava

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