Today while we were boating on the lake, we were sitting in a cove trying to work up the courage to get back in the cold water for another run, when we hear people screaming and laughing.
I commented to the passengers on the boat "Isn't it a little early in the day to be drunk?"
After a little more listening, we hear them yelling "stroke, stroke, stroke". Having been in that situation before, we instantly had a pretty good idea of what that meant.
We fire up the engine, and head over there, and sure enough, there are four people in the water pulling the boat (full of another 4-5 people) toward the dock about 3/4 mile away.
Before we spotted the swimmers, we almost thought they were underway, because they were actually moving along pretty well.
I waved, and started moving toward them. Despite me coming straight for them, they start waving their orange flag. And no matter how much I acknowledge them, they just kept waving it harder and harder. Finally, when I got close enough to them to speak, I say "you guys look like you could use a tow". They stopped waving the flag, made some smart comment like "yeah, what gave you that idea", and informed me that they'd over-heated. We gave 'em a pull. back in.
Anyway, once we got 'em back in, the owner mentioned that he'd had a bad battery, and decided to fire it up for a few min. to charge it up--without muffs...
Naturally the impeller was toast.
He said the boat had been sitting for over 3 years, so I don't know that he would have fared any better, even if he hadn't run it without muffs.
Anyway, I just felt good that I finally got the chance to return the favor to someone else, after being towed in TWICE earlier this summer.
I commented to the passengers on the boat "Isn't it a little early in the day to be drunk?"
After a little more listening, we hear them yelling "stroke, stroke, stroke". Having been in that situation before, we instantly had a pretty good idea of what that meant.
We fire up the engine, and head over there, and sure enough, there are four people in the water pulling the boat (full of another 4-5 people) toward the dock about 3/4 mile away.
Before we spotted the swimmers, we almost thought they were underway, because they were actually moving along pretty well.
I waved, and started moving toward them. Despite me coming straight for them, they start waving their orange flag. And no matter how much I acknowledge them, they just kept waving it harder and harder. Finally, when I got close enough to them to speak, I say "you guys look like you could use a tow". They stopped waving the flag, made some smart comment like "yeah, what gave you that idea", and informed me that they'd over-heated. We gave 'em a pull. back in.
Anyway, once we got 'em back in, the owner mentioned that he'd had a bad battery, and decided to fire it up for a few min. to charge it up--without muffs...
Naturally the impeller was toast.
He said the boat had been sitting for over 3 years, so I don't know that he would have fared any better, even if he hadn't run it without muffs.
Anyway, I just felt good that I finally got the chance to return the favor to someone else, after being towed in TWICE earlier this summer.
