A Bad Day on the Water is Better Than a Good Day at Work

“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need” ~Rolling Stones

How glorious a Saturday it was…not a cloud in the sky, 90 degrees air temp, 85 degrees water temp, and not a ripple on the perfect blue horizon.  Now THIS was a Top 10 boating day for the year!  My new neighbors had some friends over for the weekend, and we made plans to meet at the sandbar later that afternoon.  I was in new territory, and I had more things circled on my nav charts than uncircled to go and check out.  The day’s plan…to head out into part of the backcountry flats to check out some trenches that promised to be teeming with fish and critters of all kinds and do some snorkeling.  Then check out some islands in the vicinity, and eventually meet up with the neighbors.

The view from the end of my canal Saturday.

I emerged from a peaceful idle down the neighborhood canal and out the pass to a stunning vista of a patchwork of reef, flats, and seagrass beds, mixed in with areas of white sand bottom, all in various shades of turquoise and aquamarine.  No highrises, light boat traffic, and a horizon dotted with tiny uninhabited islands.  Now THIS is what it’s all about!  I banked off to the north, got up on plane, and just soaked it all in.  However shortly after getting out to the main channel that heads into the back country, a few guys coming in the opposite direction in a flats boat were waving frantically at me, clearly signaling me.  So I carefully slowed down and pulled up alongside them.  They kindly, but firmly, informed me that PWC were not allowed in the back country.  They were not law enforcement…but they were giving me a courtesy head’s up that a lot of captains out there have it in for PWC, and upon sighting one will quietly call the marine patrol, who also apparently have it in for PWC, and I will get a guaranteed ticket.

This is a very sore subject for me.  It really chaps my ass that I do not have the same boating/access rights as any other vessel, because of all the irresponsible morons that tend to occupy the controls of PWC doing the wrong thing.  Our beloved vessels are, technology and construction-wise, the most environmentally friendly out there.  Shallow draft, internal prop, and 3 Star California Emissions rated 4-stroke makes a PWC much less impactful than any exposed prop, manatee-mulching, polluting 2-stroke outboard!   And yet we face discrimination all over this great nation.  A bias earned by the mentality of the typical PWC operator.  It infuriates me to no end, but this is a battle that will not be won overnight.  So I thanked the gentlemen for the knowledge and head’s up, and grudgingly turned back, hugely disappointed in all the magical destinations I will never get to explore aboard my Seadoo.  They would require a small boat of some kind.

A "bad" day?  I think not!

So I let it go and decided not to let it ruin my day.  My surroundings are stunning and there is so much else to do and check out.  When I was within 100 yards of the sandbar, I was encumbered with the unexpected and ear drum-piercing…beeeeeeeeeeeep!  An engine alarm was going off.  Sigh.  I shut the engine, made note of the error code, pulled the seat off to check for anything obvious or catastrophic, and upon finding nothing alarming, hopped into the water and swam the ski over to the sandbar.

You have 2 choices when these things happen…freak out like a big, fat white chick who found out her baby daddy was not who she thought on live television via the Jerry Springer Show, or take a deep breath and realize, “something is broken and needs to be fixed” and then chill out!  I have my BoatUS towing coverage (which I recommend everyone invest in towing insurance…peace of mind).  The weather is still perfect.  I am still on the water.  Hey, wait a second, this is awesome!

Better than working!  Yes!

I swam over to where my friends were, and proceeded to have a wonderful afternoon of swimming, socializing, and enjoying an ice cold tropical rum slush from a borrowed floatie.   There are MUCH worse places to be than this!  Like at work!  A bad day on the water really is better than a good day at work!  The neighbors were kind enough to tow the mighty Seadoo back home.  I did not choose to risk firing it up and doing damage until I had a chance to look into the problem.  It is never worth it, unless you are in a life-or-death situation.

Getting towed back by Psychedelic Lollipop while enjoying a beer!

 

A brief word about towing your PWC behind a boat.  Unless you have a hose pincher clamped onto one of your exhaust hoses, DO NOT tow the ski up on plane!!  The high speed, high volume rush of water can backflow through your exhaust and into your engine and cause serious damage!!  If you do not pinch off that hose, then keep the towing vessel at no more than 5 - 7 knots, to be safe.  If you DO have it pinched off, then you can safely tow it up on a light plane.  But remember to slow down carefully and slowly, or else you run the risk of getting rear ended by your poor ski!

Lesson learned…sh*t happens.  Not every trip out is going to be on track with plans.  But it doesn’t mean it still has to be a day angrily surrendered to a little bad luck.  It is all in your attitude.  Make the most of it anyway…the proverbial glass of lemonade.  Remember that if you are lucky enough to have a boat or PWC…you are lucky enough!  

Oh, my error code turned out to be related to a coolant issue I was having last month.  Some circulation blockage due to oil that got into the cooling system after an oil cooler failure.  I few more flushes of the cooling system ought to do it.  Not a biggie!  Ride on!