Eeeek

Almost died tonight. Or at least, thought I was going to die. Or at least, that we were going to sink and would have to swim a long ways in freezing cold water. Luckily, nothing of the sort happened, and upon getting back to the boat launch and loading the boat and pulling the plug thingy that keeps the water out (or in, when it’s inside the boat) only a cup or two of water poured out, not the fifty gallons we thought was in there from the way the boat was (not) handling. To be more clear, we took the boat out on what we thought a lovely warm sunny evening, and the wind picked up and there were some decent sized waves, which was fine, but our grandpa engine started sounding pretty bad, struggling a lot, and running rough, and we turned back to shore. We were going with the wind then and thought we’d be zooming along but instead felt like we weren’t going anywhere. We decided after we got back to dry land that since we weren’t making like a sponge then it must have been the engine’s issue - fuel not going in right, water in the lower unit, something… it was just way underpowered compared to what it should have been, and this made us unable to steer well in the waves.

In any case, not quite a near death experience, but I did have a crystal clear moment when I realized how much I like being on a surface that holds me up without any effort of my own. Of course, we have the appropriate flotation device thingies on board, but still. I like dry land. I still like boating, but I know I’m looking forward to really hot weather when the water is warm enough that I won’t mind floating around in it like a sleepy manatee until someone rescues me or I drift to shore. Although in tonight’s case Ampersand could have pulled me! Because it was our puppy’s FIRST BOATING EXPERIENCE! He seemed a bit nervous, but overall I think he enjoyed it! He tried to bite the water a couple times, and almost pushed me out of my seat when he decided that looked like the place to be.