It's been a while since we've been out in the boat and yesterday I
decided that had to change. It was Thursday so why not take the boat
to see the fireworks?
I asked the Island King what he thought and was told that he
wanted to watch the debate and wouldn't I rather do that instead?
Ummm – no. In fact I'd rather stick a fork in my eye.
So I decided to take the boat and go watch the fireworks without
him.
I come from a long line of seafaring folks and before I met the
Island King I owned my own boat so taking the boat to the fireworks
shouldn't have been a big deal.
But...
It's been almost 30 years since I've been in a boat without the
Island King and I was a little nervous but it's a lot like riding a
bike and I knew I would do fine once the boat was in the water.
Driving backwards has always been particularly difficult for me
and I had a feeling putting the boat in the water would be
challenging but not insurmountable.
The boys didn't want to go so the Island Girl and I loaded up the
boat and off we went.
Luckily, there weren't many people at the boat ramp so I pulled
in, lined the truck up with the launch I wanted to use and started
backing.
This way and that way and every way but straight.
After a few minutes I got frustrated, pulled completely out of the
boat ramp parking lot, pulled back in and started over.
It took about 15 minutes to get the boat in the water but finally
I got the trailer into the water and floated the boat.
The Island Girl parked the truck, hopped into the boat and we were
off.
We got about 100 yards away from the dock and the motor died.
We've had trouble with the idle on this motor since we bought it so I
wasn't surprised and didn't let it shake my confidence.
We floated around for a minute and I finally got the motor
running. It does this often and once it was running again we headed
out into the Bay.
It was really windy and there was about a 3 foot chop – which
isn't a big deal but I was wishing that I'd chosen a calm day for my
first time running a boat in 30 years.
It took a few minutes to adjust to the waves and boat traffic but
then my captaining skills came flooding back and we made it over to
the beach with no problem.
The Island Girl and I ate sushi and watermelon for dinner
soaked
in the water, talked to the tourists walking by and enjoyed every
minute of the fireworks.
The fireworks ended and we sat there for a while, letting all of
the other boats get gone before we headed for home.
She pulled the anchor and I idled back under the bridge and into
the channel. The Bay was even choppier so my plan was to secure
everything and then just run the waves home.
Except, the boat wouldn't plane. No matter what I tried I couldn't
get the bow out of the air and the motor was not sounding good.
It was running a little rough and all I could do was a slow crawl
which meant that about every third wave washed over the transom.
I had the Island Girl move everything to the front of the boat
hoping to get some weight out of the stern but that didn't help. The
boat still wouldn't plane and I was still taking the occasional wave
over the back.
The 5 minute ride from the point to the bayou took 20 LONG
minutes.
We got into the bayou and out of the waves and I breathed a huge
sigh of relief – we were almost home.
I pulled up to the dock at the boat ramp and waited while the
Island Girl went to get the truck. The motor still didn't sound good
so I turned it off while I waited.
Watching her back the trailer was hysterical. Bless her heart she
takes after her mother.
She finally got the trailer into the water but when she opened the
truck door and stepped out onto the slick ramp she slipped and went
down hard.
Poor kid. All she wanted to do was trailer the boat and GO HOME
but when I tried to crank the boat to put it on the trailer it
wouldn't crank.
Seriously?
We walked the boat to the trailer but then we were standing on the
slippery ramp and could not get that boat more than about halfway on
the trailer.
Between backing the truck and pulling the boat we finally got it
far enough on the trailer that I was able to hook up the winch and
muscle the boat the rest of the way onto the trailer.
We both heaved a huge sigh of relief and drove home – where I
had one more big test to pass.
The Island King was still at his Mom's and I had to back the boat
into the driveway.
Lord have mercy what a fiasco!
I hit two mailboxes, drove my truck ALL the way up into the yard
across the street and after 20 minutes of going back and forth my
goal changed from putting the boat where it lives to just getting it
and the truck out of the road.
I wish you could have seen the look on the Island King's face when
he got home and saw this.
He put the boat back where it lives
And I told him about our adventure.
Once the motor is fixed I know I will be confident enough to take
the boat out without him again. Thirty years is a long time but it didn't take long to feel comfortable as captain.
But I'm seriously going to have to
work on my backing skills - there has to be a better way than taking a half hour to launch the boat and hitting the neighbor's mailbox every time I come home.Labels: Done
