Famous blunders, we all have a story

I was trading famous blunders stories when I realized it needed a thread of its own
we all have a story of that guy stranded a few hundred yard from the dock
forgot the motor or something insignificant like that

this is mine
its a fond memory as me Dad had a right nasty temper and the tale involves his attitude getting the best of him

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Ild say I had a little incentive to enjoy the moment
hang with me but you may like this

these days if a parent wollops a kid the fire department shows up and the parent ends up frog marched off to prison

back in my day if you sneeze funny you could get thrashed to within an inch of your life at the local barbecue while folks comment how fast you are at ducking and dodging

so picture this

I was about ten, it was summer and we're at the vacation house on the cape. My dad had been working on a skiff outside the boat house, for all of two weeks, that he had dragged in from were it had sat for years against the side of the house. Thing was a wreck and my grand Dad and I both thought it was hopeless, not old Dad, and he was dam sloppy about fixing it. My grand dad told him the wood was dry rotted and showed me what dry rot was, Dad was pissed and painted it anyway. So I think just to make a point my old gran dad ( Roby ) decided to explain to me all the things Dad was doing wrong. Rode me Dad hard the hole way and made no bones about it.

Roby had learned from his dad who was actually a working shipwright from the old country, thing was Robbie knew his business and old Dad was all thumbs. Dad scrounged all the stuff you should never scrounge, pulled out some old rope from the attic, stuck ore locks into questionable wood, grabed an old lanteen sail from the loft. you know all the stuff you really aught to replace
ok

Last day we are there he finnaly gets it ready and wants me to help him launch it and go for a sail. Im looking at the choppy conditions and the sky and Im thinkin no way squalls coming in. Old dad starts in on me ( he was pissed anyway after all that ribbing. ) So here I am on the beach in front of all my mates getting tar and feathered. my Mum sticks her head out the front door and yells.
"oh Bob, we're on vacation"
Thanks for the help mom and Dad storms off to the boat house for a set of rollers.

So that sets the stage.
My Mum and I standing on the beach while old Dad grumbling and angry drags his pet project down the beech. Roby wouldn't let him displace his project in the boat house so old Dad had to do the hole thing outside anyway which just pissed him off to no end.

So old Dad starts rowing on out, gets about a hundred yards and breaks an ore lock, looses the ore in the chop. Then he tries to set the sail and the gaff ends up nearly killing him as the gear breaks. Thing about old Dad was the site of my blood seemed to sooth him half the time, but the site of his own, not so much. Although I couldn't really see from were I was laughing my *** off on the beach; but Im pretty sure thats when he started getting a little green around the gills. Then the chop starts in on him and now I'm sure he's going pale. He takes the one ore he has left and kinda kneels in the bow canoe style, well that didnt do him any good either cause between the waves the wind and the tide he was heading out to see like it or not. Then Robbie shows up and starts yelling at him from the beach, something about how maybe he should listen a little next time. By now my mom and I are just rolling and the audience is building. Well the water finally gets to old Dad and he starts puking over the side just in time for the squall to hit. Some how he lost the other ore as well and ends up laying over the front of the skiff sorta dog paddling for shore puking the hole way. Finally one of the neighbors goes out in a little motor launch and saves him.

Im not sure how long he was out there, time flies when your having that much fun, but that hour or two pretty much cured him of using all the old **** out of the boat house that had probably been sitting in there since the turn of the last century.

was one of my favorite moments in life
the man nearly had to be carried off the beach

later on Roby asked me what I had learned, I remember I told him
"never puke off the front of a boat in choppy water"

love and fond memories
B

 

Son, don't put that 9.5 hp outboard on that homemade 8 foot hydroplane...


It'll be ok dad,,,,we tightened the steering nut so you can throw yourself up on the bow to make it plane. Once the nose comes down,,look out!!


You did tighten the nut right?

So my buddy starts doing doughnuts in the middle of the canal, Dad watching, two teenagers rolling on the ground are no help......

Luckily, the motor cavitated and the project sunk to the bottom of the canal...

PS.....six gallon tank will knock your lights out when the outboard comes off!