boating life

Something ‘Bout a Boat

I have always been fascinated by boats.   Any boat.  As a child I spent summers in our family cabin on the north shore of Lake Erie.  We had a small brown Iroquois johnboat that occupied most of my time.   The thin aluminum floor would flex and pop if you weren’t standing in the proper spot, but it never leaked. I rowed that boat everywhere.  By the end of each summer, my hands would be as calloused as those of a Maine gill net fisherman.   The ends of the straight wooden oars completely smooth from countless pulls.   Sometimes I even pushed the boat through the shallow waters, providing the six or eight-year-old equivalent of outboard power – getting it to “plane” and put out a small wake.  I was the captain of that ship, as small as it was, and I loved the feeling of freedom it provided.  I credit my parents with allowing me such freedom, as I never felt like I was being hawked over by adults as I roamed the bay. (more…)