Boating

First an update on my leg...
I went to the infectious disease specialist the other day. She examined my leg and told me the infection was all gone. I asked why it was still swelling and getting red at night and she told me that may last for a week or it may last several months. She recommended a compression stocking for two weeks. I bought one and will wear it for the next couple of weeks to see if she knows what she is talking about or if she's just another over educated idiot making a guess. I was very relieved that I don't have to get it debrided and no longer have to go for infusion every day. My arms were starting to make me look like a junkie.

 Saturday night we weren't doing anything so we decided to go for a sunset cruise. It sure is nice to just be able to drop the boat in the water and go for a ride at a moments notice. We will miss that when we sell the place.

I brought the camera because I wanted to try the new Autostitch program recommended by fellow blogger Rick in Cowichan Bay, B.C. (http://rickpaulettervjournal.blogspot.com/). The program works great, is easy to use and best of all it's FREE.

Here's the results...

Jamaica Beach

It wasn't a great sunset but not too bad....

We spent about three hours cruising around and just having a good time. No, I did not get in the water. I need to recover from this last little experience before I do that again.

I was thinking this might be a good place to tell you about our first boating experience. It's a long story but some of you might find it humorous.

Short history: Connie grew up on a lake with a fishing family. I grew up 7 miles away in a non-fishing family and never even learned to swim. My Mom signed us kids up for swimming lessons every summer at the town pool. I would leave for lessons in the morning with my siblings and duck out at the Little League Field. My brothers and sister swim like fish, I still can’t.

After Connie and I hooked up she got me into trout fishing in the streams of upstate NY. When we moved to Houston in 1980 we entered the rat race and didn’t fish for about 8 years.

We started camping on weekends and soon got the bug to fish again. After 3 months of driving all over the Houston area looking at used boats we settled on a “starter/fixer-upper.” It was a 1965 “Texas Maid”, 19 foot if I remember correctly.

I paid $1,000 for it and put it in the garage. The previous owner had gutted it and used it to pull sportsman nets for bait. It had a little 4 cylinder Chevy inboard engine. I rewired the lights, tuned the engine, changed the oil in the lower unit, bought all the safety gear to make it legal, and bought all the fishing tackle we thought we would need to start fishing Texas style. It took a month to get her ready for her maiden voyage.

On a Friday night, we loaded up the camping gear, hooked up the trailer and headed off to Lake Texana with visions of all the fish we were going to catch. Out daughter was 13 or 14 at the time and did not share our enthusiasm at all, so she stayed at a friend’s house for the weekend.

Saturday morning we rolled out of the tent and headed out to launch the boat, skipping breakfast in our excitement.

I backed down the ramp after unhooking the safety straps and making sure the equipment had all been stowed. I stopped at the waters edge to let Connie finish backing down while I climbed in the boat and backed her off the trailer.

The boat started right up. I backed off the trailer and motored out on the lake a little ways to wait for Connie to park and walk back down to the dock. This might be a good time to tell you that I had never driven a boat before or even been on a boat smaller than the Bolivar Ferry.

Connie walked back to the dock and I started towards her at about 20 MPH figuring when I got close I’d just “reverse engine” and drift up to the dock. Did I mention that my boat driving ideas were straight out of movies I had watched?

I got pretty close (still at 20 MPH) and slammed her into reverse. The old control box was not used to that treatment and gave up the ghost right then and there. I panicked and started shifting backwards and forwards as fast as I could hoping that it would finally catch in reverse. Connie realized that something was wrong and started hollering at me (normal when I screw up). I ignored her and kept shifting. Just as I was about to hit the dock, I heard her scream “TURN THE KEY OFF!!!!!.”

There were probably 20 people fishing from the dock and the nearby bulkhead. They saw what was going on and started running in all directions away from the water. They were dropping tackle, kicking over bait buckets and little kids were screaming. It was quite a sight.

I finally did as Connie suggested but it was too little, too late. I hit the dock at about 15 MPH. I saw the side of the boat bend in as my head smashed into the windshield frame. The old girl was well built because she bent but didn’t break. I ended up with a nasty gash on my forehead.

We got the boat tied up and as Connie was chewing me a new arse an old guy walked up and asked what the trouble was. I explained it to him and he offered to help. He took the control box apart, wired something up and put it back together. He said it would probably hold together for a while if I babied it. I was all for loading the boat and going home but Connie wanted to fish so we set off on our maiden voyage.

As we were heading down the lake I could smell the engine getting hot. All of a sudden an alarm went off and the motor shut down. I looked around and could see it was going to be a very long drift before I ever got off that dang boat.

I pulled the engine cover off to see if I could figure out what was going on. That’s when I realized I had left the muff’s on after running it in the driveway. Muff's connect to a garden hose and fasten over the water intake on the engine. It allows you to run the engine while the boat is out of the water.

It was in the middle of March and the water was very cold. I don’t swim so guess who had to jump in and pry the muffs off. Did I mention theses are alligator infested waters? Let’s just say that she wasn’t happy. She also thought she was married to the biggest idiot to ever walk the face of the earth.

We finally got the boat running again after letting it cool down and headed straight back to the dock. It was a chilly boat ride and I am not talking about the weather. We loaded up, packed up and went home. Two disasters were enough for one weekend.

That week, I replaced the control box, checked everything out and we decided that we would try again the following Friday.

Friday came and we were back in our original excited mood as we headed back to Lake Texana. Both of us checked to make sure that the muffs were left behind in the garage. That night a passing park ranger stopped to ask if I had fixed my mechanical problems. He had heard about our previous weekend’s adventure. I guess he thought Connie had married the biggest idiot to ever walk the face of the earth too. Either that, or he thought I liked towing a boat 2 hours each way on weekends.

Saturday morning, we launched without a problem and headed down the lake to finally catch some fish. We found a spot we thought looked promising and dropped anchor. Shortly after that I noticed my feet were getting wet. I started looking around for the leak when I noticed the plug in the cup holder. I had forgotten to put it back in before launching. The plug screws into a hole at the lowest point in the rear of the boat. It allows you to drain water from the bilge. If the plug isn't in when you are up and running it's not a problem but when you stop it allows water to drain INTO the boat.

The water had not warmed much since the prior weekend and Connie had to go for another short swim. Once again, she called me everything but a Christian. She kept heaping “praise” on me, my intelligence, my mechanical abilities and my boating skills for the rest of the day. We didn’t catch any fish but eventually, when she calmed down and dried out, we had a good time.

We sold the boat that week. Later that year, we bought a new Bayliner cuddy cabin, which is a whole nother series of adventures in itself.

Adios for now, enjoy the day.
--Rod