I finished up a Rivercat I've had partially built for some time, today. De iced to maiden it on low voltage. Of course I had my trusty recovery boat with me as usual. She ran pretty good on 4s, but something happened and I hit one of my wakes and flipped it. Sent recovery out after it. I'm pushing it back in and the prop comes off. Damn. What do I do? It's getting dark. My 13 year old decided she's gonna swim for it, I make him come back in. It's just too far out. No wind so it's just sitting still and I'm watching it as the sun goes down. Finally I said screw it. I'll swim for it. I know better. I condemn people for doing it. What a hypocrite I'm thinking. But lose a new boat when I know I could do it. I mean it's only 100-150ft from me. So close but so far away. I'm decently fit. I work out 4-5 days a week, you'd never think I had open heart surgery a year and a half ago. But I don't do cardio. I hate it, but I do have pretty good wind and stamina......so I thought.
I start walking out to it second guessing myself. Hoping I don't drown in fromt of my 13 year old, my 8 year old and his little friend....while they helplessly watch. I swim towards it. Alls well till I get to it...I'm already starting to get winded. I flip the Rivercat over. I try to use it as floatation. Ha! What a stupid thought. I start swimming back. Boy I'm getting tired. I try to push the boat towards land as I'm swimming. Then I say screw the boat. I remember to float on my back. At this point I'm spent. When you can't catch your breath, floating on your back does not work well at all. My life is running through my mind at this point. I'm thinking I'm about to drown over a damn toy. Wtf am I thinking. I keep telling myself don't stop. Don't stop. I'm swimming on my back. Barely. And just about the point where I just can't go anymore, I feel the land hit my butt. Or should I say my butt hit land. I sand down in the mud. About 10ft from the bank, panting. Shaking. Gasping for air. Over a toy. Yea. Let me just tell you fellas, this $hit ain't worth it. Don't do it. I'll never do that again. I'll be better prepared or I'll just leave it. I was lucky. I didn't give up. But I almost did....... I consider myself a lesson learned for everyone else.
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