HVACRat
Seaman Apprentice
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2009
- Messages
- 31
Jimmbo's story on my other thread reminded me of this one...
My second "real" boat was also a 12' Jon, by Alumacraft and she was powered by a brand spanking new 4 stroke 9.9 Nissan.
I was at the local lake heading into the mouth of the river when I saw a guy in the distance doing jumping jacks (that's what jogged the memory). Obviously in distress I headed over to see if I could help.
It was a family out in their deck boat, Mom, Dad, Son (about 10 years old) and little sister. Between Dad's broken English and my broken Spanish and the Son translating for us I gathered what had happened. The boat had an I/O drive and something had made a big puff of smoke and then everything went dead. No worries, I told them, I could tow them into the ramp.
Are you sure? I don't think your little boat can do it amigo.
No worries, I said, we just wouldn't be making it there very fast.
He actually had fenders so we deployed the fenders and I tied them up on my port side and we headed toward the ramp; at a whopping 4 MPH! I would imagine it looked pretty funny to see my little 12' boat tied to this 18 or 19 footer, but such is life sometimes.
The Dad had told me how they had been there for about an hour trying to waive down other boaters who just zoomed right on by without ever looking up. He was beginning to worry that he may have to swim to shore and walk to the truck to go get help. He was very grateful I came over to help.
On the trip to the ramp the young boy was hanging over the side of their boat looking into mine, he would point to something and ask:
Hey mister, what's that thing?
That's a fish finder, helps me find fish and know the depth.
What about that thingy?
That's a bubble maker for my bait bucket.
Why do you have so many fishing poles?
I like to catch a lot of fish!
Why to you have a motor on the front...
It went on like this for pretty much the whole trip back to the ramp. I answered his questions just like I would anyone and sometimes I could see the gears working in his head trying to fully understand the "thingy" I was trying to explain.
Once back at the ramp I helped them load their dead boat and get it retrieved. The Dad offered me money for my help, I refused, he insisted; eventually I accepted it just to keep from offending.
Upon saying our goodbyes and shaking hands the boy looked at me in a kind of serious way and said:
Mister, your boat isn't very big, but you have way more cool stuff in yours than we do!
The adults had a good chuckle about that and I told the Dad it sounded like he may have a budding fisherman in the family.
They headed out and I eventually was able to get to my fishing spot and catch some crappie. I always keep an eye out for them on the lake, I've always wondered if that little boy grew into a fisherman. It's been so long now I probably wouldn't recognize him, but one can always hope.
My second "real" boat was also a 12' Jon, by Alumacraft and she was powered by a brand spanking new 4 stroke 9.9 Nissan.
I was at the local lake heading into the mouth of the river when I saw a guy in the distance doing jumping jacks (that's what jogged the memory). Obviously in distress I headed over to see if I could help.
It was a family out in their deck boat, Mom, Dad, Son (about 10 years old) and little sister. Between Dad's broken English and my broken Spanish and the Son translating for us I gathered what had happened. The boat had an I/O drive and something had made a big puff of smoke and then everything went dead. No worries, I told them, I could tow them into the ramp.
Are you sure? I don't think your little boat can do it amigo.
No worries, I said, we just wouldn't be making it there very fast.
He actually had fenders so we deployed the fenders and I tied them up on my port side and we headed toward the ramp; at a whopping 4 MPH! I would imagine it looked pretty funny to see my little 12' boat tied to this 18 or 19 footer, but such is life sometimes.
The Dad had told me how they had been there for about an hour trying to waive down other boaters who just zoomed right on by without ever looking up. He was beginning to worry that he may have to swim to shore and walk to the truck to go get help. He was very grateful I came over to help.
On the trip to the ramp the young boy was hanging over the side of their boat looking into mine, he would point to something and ask:
Hey mister, what's that thing?
That's a fish finder, helps me find fish and know the depth.
What about that thingy?
That's a bubble maker for my bait bucket.
Why do you have so many fishing poles?
I like to catch a lot of fish!
Why to you have a motor on the front...
It went on like this for pretty much the whole trip back to the ramp. I answered his questions just like I would anyone and sometimes I could see the gears working in his head trying to fully understand the "thingy" I was trying to explain.
Once back at the ramp I helped them load their dead boat and get it retrieved. The Dad offered me money for my help, I refused, he insisted; eventually I accepted it just to keep from offending.
Upon saying our goodbyes and shaking hands the boy looked at me in a kind of serious way and said:
Mister, your boat isn't very big, but you have way more cool stuff in yours than we do!
The adults had a good chuckle about that and I told the Dad it sounded like he may have a budding fisherman in the family.
They headed out and I eventually was able to get to my fishing spot and catch some crappie. I always keep an eye out for them on the lake, I've always wondered if that little boy grew into a fisherman. It's been so long now I probably wouldn't recognize him, but one can always hope.