Eric T
02-10-2010, 08:34 AM
I have a little story I can share to keep from going stir crazy in the winter,We have to go back 40 years ago, when you could actually drive your boat around Short Beach Island even at low tide, well my dad bought a 14` Dorset fiberglass boat with a electric shift 40 Hp Evinrude,Like alot of people here on S+F , thats how I got started,Well short beach was full( Remember the old days ) I mean it was packed, so we headed over across the state channel north to that strech of beaches, you do not see many people at that beach nowadays,directly across from short beach,well the whole family was there Mom, Dad, me and my brother, we have the habachi going cooking hot dogs and watching the boat traffic cruise by, my dad is teaching me about the tides and moving the boat and how to anchor it correctly( you cannot beach it there the waves will go over the transom or your boat will be high + dry at low tide , so I am listening and learning , I am only 8 years old, we are not the only people there , there`s a few boats scattered about, all anchored with the bows facing south, it was a rough day, there is a bunch of big kids close by , teenagers drinking carrying on, having a good time, you know kids stuff, when I notice a girl swimming around pretty far from shore and moving fast,So I say hey dad look at that girl swimming so fast,and he looks and says something like holy crap she is caught in the rip current .Rip Current? I say, whats that?, so we yell to her friends , look the girls in trouble , and she was, So all these kids run to the boat it was like a 21 Sea ray or something similar, and for some reason they are fumbling, they cannot get the boat untied or started, I guess they are panicking, because now the girl is screaming and drowning, now she is hitting that undertow,So my dad jumps up , runs through the water , pushes one guy out of the way, unties the boat in a split second, pushes the driver out of the way, starts the boat races over to the girl , does like a 180 and yokes the girl out of the water,, meanwhile we are watching saying Holy Cow this is radical, So he brings the boat back, the girl is out of breath but O.K., He jumps out of the boat and the kids start to tie it up and anchor it again. a half hour later a bunch of them come over and give my dad a beer and a big thanks for saving thier friend.I say man that was radical Pop, how did you know what to do? he says , Eric , never panic when there is trouble or a emergency, just do what needs to be done, and never swim in this area the rip current and undertow will drag you away. So 40 years later I still remember that day, the 14` Dorsett and when you could drive around Short Beach even at low tide.A few years later there was a hydostream convention at short beach and I was forever hooked .:)