Memories of the Blue Water Wanderer ...
My three brothers, a brother in law and my sister left early in the morning, as it it was a long drive. We found the boat moored in the marina as per the directions. I looked at the old Chris Craft and thought to myself -it is a terrible thing that water, time and neglect can do to a wood boat. My older brother must has sensed what I was thinking and said "it looks fishy" The unkept looking Captain and Mate arrived a good 45 minutes late. Had they just come from a bar? The mate was sporting a black eye and quite a severe limp. The captain asked us to step back as he opened the deck hatch to expose one of the motors. Immediately my eyes fixed on the depth of the water in the bilge - too much water I thought. The captain finally cajoled the first motor to start with a burst of blue smoke.. They were a well worn a pair of v8 gas engines. The knock I could hear wasn't right and what worse could see concern it my mechanic brother's face. Eventually the second motor started and we were on our way and all the bad signs seemed to fade into memory as we slipped out of the inlet on a calm day. Perhaps an hour or two later they turned the engines off and tossed the frozen chum over the side. A couple of not new rods were produced, baited and lowered to various depths facilitated by ballon floats. Slowly the chum, a mixture of ground fish would melt and create and oily slick for our quarry to follow: sharks.
In a hour and a half a second bucket of chum was added to the first. The wind had picked up and now there was a grayness to both sea and sky. One brother slept in a dramamine induced stupor. The rest of us starred at the floats hoping that there might be a good point to this great mistake. The sea continued to build and I began to curse myself for getting on this leaky barge. The captain announced it was time to go - "sorry but you know fishing". Then he tried the first engine- it would not start. By this time the sister and brother in law had retreated below decks and were in a "death embrace" (the final goodbye). It took what seemed to be an eternity for him to get a motor started. We set off for home albeit at a slow pace. I doubt, even had there been two engines, we could have gone any faster as the sea had continued to build. Soon there was water breaking over the bow -some of it was deep enough to have color. My sister and husband were miserable below as there wasn't a dry spot below - everything leaked. It took hours. There is an odd irony - just when we saw the inlet and said a silent 'thank you God' reality sets in as the risk is the greatest - rocks and a swift current. Then the one running engine died as if the lesson wasn't quite complete. We had learned when the captain lifted the microphone to use the radio and the wires dangled freely that there would be no calling for help. Oh my god sabotage too! We were alone in this twilight zone nightmare and there would be no calling for help. The current grabbed us, it didn't look good but luckily the other engine started and we limped back to the dock.
Stress is a funny thing - I went home and slept deeply. I did not hear from any of them for quite a while. Finally my brother called me and said he went fishing in the sound. Your sister and brother in law were supposed to come but into the parking lot and saw some ripples on the water in the harbor and turned around and went home...
Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forumh
My three brothers, a brother in law and my sister left early in the morning, as it it was a long drive. We found the boat moored in the marina as per the directions. I looked at the old Chris Craft and thought to myself -it is a terrible thing that water, time and neglect can do to a wood boat. My older brother must has sensed what I was thinking and said "it looks fishy" The unkept looking Captain and Mate arrived a good 45 minutes late. Had they just come from a bar? The mate was sporting a black eye and quite a severe limp. The captain asked us to step back as he opened the deck hatch to expose one of the motors. Immediately my eyes fixed on the depth of the water in the bilge - too much water I thought. The captain finally cajoled the first motor to start with a burst of blue smoke.. They were a well worn a pair of v8 gas engines. The knock I could hear wasn't right and what worse could see concern it my mechanic brother's face. Eventually the second motor started and we were on our way and all the bad signs seemed to fade into memory as we slipped out of the inlet on a calm day. Perhaps an hour or two later they turned the engines off and tossed the frozen chum over the side. A couple of not new rods were produced, baited and lowered to various depths facilitated by ballon floats. Slowly the chum, a mixture of ground fish would melt and create and oily slick for our quarry to follow: sharks.
In a hour and a half a second bucket of chum was added to the first. The wind had picked up and now there was a grayness to both sea and sky. One brother slept in a dramamine induced stupor. The rest of us starred at the floats hoping that there might be a good point to this great mistake. The sea continued to build and I began to curse myself for getting on this leaky barge. The captain announced it was time to go - "sorry but you know fishing". Then he tried the first engine- it would not start. By this time the sister and brother in law had retreated below decks and were in a "death embrace" (the final goodbye). It took what seemed to be an eternity for him to get a motor started. We set off for home albeit at a slow pace. I doubt, even had there been two engines, we could have gone any faster as the sea had continued to build. Soon there was water breaking over the bow -some of it was deep enough to have color. My sister and husband were miserable below as there wasn't a dry spot below - everything leaked. It took hours. There is an odd irony - just when we saw the inlet and said a silent 'thank you God' reality sets in as the risk is the greatest - rocks and a swift current. Then the one running engine died as if the lesson wasn't quite complete. We had learned when the captain lifted the microphone to use the radio and the wires dangled freely that there would be no calling for help. Oh my god sabotage too! We were alone in this twilight zone nightmare and there would be no calling for help. The current grabbed us, it didn't look good but luckily the other engine started and we limped back to the dock.
Stress is a funny thing - I went home and slept deeply. I did not hear from any of them for quite a while. Finally my brother called me and said he went fishing in the sound. Your sister and brother in law were supposed to come but into the parking lot and saw some ripples on the water in the harbor and turned around and went home...
Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forumh
