My husband Harry thinks he knows everything about boats, because he grew up in Minnesota, land of a thousand lakes, whose state motto should be Scimus Scaphas Exusit! “We Know Boats!” He also worked for the Naval Research Lab as an astrophysicist, which last I heard does not involve boats. Plus, his dad had a rowboat with an outboard motor.
So needless to say, we’ve had a lot of mishaps in launching our little Bayliner. She was already four years old when we bought her in 2007. Harry named her Glorious Glenna after me and in honor of Chuck Yeager, who named his Bell X-1, a rocket-engine powered airplane, Glorious Glennis, after his wife.
Every spring, before we launch GG down at the Madison marina, we go through a check list of past years’ screw ups. One year we didn’t realize we had to tie down the seat cushions before taking off with the boat on the trailer. A couple of them blew out of the boat never to be found somewhere near the Woolford Store.
There was the year we forgot to take a wide turn out of the driveway and put the boat and trailer in the ditch. That took several hours and the help of a bemused neighbor to remedy. And there was the year we forgot to tip the motor up before gunning the trailer out of the water. That move chipped a section off the prop guard on the concrete ramp.
This year was our best launch yet.
We set off on a fine spring day with the boat on the trailer: Tie down the seat cushions. Check. Be sure to make a wide turn out of the driveway. Check. At the Madison boat ramp, hoist the motor. Check. All is going well.
Watching all of this, with their heads politely turned away, are a couple of local watermen who are baiting trotlines with gross-looking mollusks tied in orange nets. Harry backs the trailer down the ramp like a pro. We jockey the boat into position with guy lines, and Harry jumps aboard.
Now Harry is easy to find on land or sea, because he always wears a navy blue polo shirt with khaki slacks. I can see him standing in the boat. The pier comes about mid-thigh, so I see khaki topped by navy blue. Then suddenly, I see only navy blue, because the pier is now waist high.
Apparently, we forgot to replace the drain plug in the boat. We can hear the pump working furiously and water pours out the side drain, but she’s sinking fast. Harry is helpless. I still have a bow line and am pulling with all my might to get the boat back on the trailer. I pull the line on one side and then run around the ramp to grab the line from the opposite side. I finally manage to get Harry and the boat back on the trailer close enough for him to jump out into knee-high water.
Harry approaches the watermen and makes their day when he asks if they have a half inch, open-ended wrench to fit his drain plug.
Glenna Heckathorn is the co-president of the League of Women Voters of the Mid-Shore and lives in Church Creek, MD
Mike Starling says
Another memorable gem from Glenna Heckathorn!