Adventures in Boating-Part 1

Everyday on the water is an adventure...some more adventuresome than others. A friend of mine use to tell me that before he went out for a day of boating he only hoped for one thing...That he wouldn't do something stupid. I just always laughed. Not because I didn't know what he was talking about, but because I had already done most of those stupid things. I remember the first boat I ever bought. A 1980, 17' Celebrity. It was a great boat and my very first adventure was on a Rend Lake in Southern IL. We were in the middle of the lake with my family and inlaws showing off my great new boat when all of a sudden the boat bogged down and came to rest in the middle of the lake. Being my first adventure I was a little befuddled. My wife looked at me and said; "What did you do that for?" Fair question. However I hadn't done anything, the boat just stopped??? But as I was contemplating her question, I asked myself a more relevant question...why was the boat not moving??? The water was moving, why weren't we? So I blurted out: "We're stuck on ground!" The rest of the family looked at me with that familiar quirky look in disbelief and laughed because we were at least 100 yards from the nearest shore. None the less, I knew we were stuck. So I trimmed up the lower unit and pulled out my paddle. Yes, I had a paddle! I was prepared! I reached over the edge and sure enough the paddle hit bottom only about 15" below the surface. I knew I had to lighten the load and push us off. My family was still in disbelief until I jumped over the edge and was standing there in knee deep water. At first the family's look was in disbelief...but it was soon followed by uncontrollable laughter. I was the only one who didn't see the humor. So I made my way to the back of the boat and proceeded to push us off the mud. Luckily it was mud and did no damage to the boat. After the boat was freed, I climbed back in and proceeded more cautiously. After that day, I purchased a depth finder and I've never been out on the water again without one.
We would love to hear about your adventures...please email them to us!
Until next time, have fun on the water.
Greg