My very own Indiana Jones moment ...

A little back story ...

Our esteemed boat ( finally to be christened "Safe Harbor" ) has sprung a leak at the swing keel. The swing keel is a 1500 pound piece of iron that swings down out of the hull and ... is a keel. Well I was cranking it up one day and my hand slipped and rather than catching, the winch just let the keel freewheel backwards all the way from the hull to full open ... with no slow restraint. The entire boat shook with a loud "boooom" and I suspect a bolt holding up the keel pulled out of the fiberglass. I ended up installing a bilge pump and spending a frustrating week getting a hold of someone who could do this kind of work ( getting a 25 foot boat out of the water without a trailer requires a crane, hydrohoist or some other similar lifting mechanism ). Jonestown has a fantastic crew and I'll plug for them any day; awesome group of guys.

And so the adventure ...

So this evening, I was getting the boat ready to motor up to Jonestown for a repair and maybe a paint job. Sharon was going to meet me there and no one else happened to be around at the time so I was alone for the trip. I had backed out of the slip and shifted to forward gear and I thought I might be closer than I wanted to be to the other slips and boats. I leaned out over the edge to have a look and ... here's the stupid part ... I slipped in some water and fell over the side. Oops.

I grabbed a wire safety line that I hadn't fastned yet that was dangling in the water. As it turns out I was pretty close to the rest of the boats because I had to bob my head under water to avoid getting creamed by the motors on the other boats ( when tilted up they stick out a few feet from the boat ). I'm getting real close to dead while I'm trying avoid motors and avoid being crushed between a dock and my boat or another boat and my boat and the safety wire slipped out of my hand. I reached out and grabbed a fender ( bumpers on a boat ) and it came off because it was just pressed into a cleat. I threw the fender back on the boat and grabbed another fender and try to hoist my self up. The boats was just too tall and I couldn't get up it and then I finally got my thoughts together enough to have an idea.

I pushed off the boats side into a slip. As my boat motored on by me, i swam out and grabbed the rudder and climbed up the rudder to the railings and hauled myself aboard wet pants, shirt and al. All I could think was, get away from the boats, get this thing out of this marina. And I did, I cruised easily the rest of the way out. Remarkably, there were no scratches on me, and no scratches on the boat. I got off scott free.

So there I was soaking wet, still wearing pants a shirt from work, heart beating its way out of my chest and all I can do is laugh because you know what? My hat stayed on the entire time.

I guess the only thing missing to make this a full on Indiana Jones stunt is a big brute kicking my face in as I climbed aboard. Can't have everything I guess.

Ross