Come On, Get Ready!
We’d spent a week sitting, waiting, and hoping. The weather had been high winds and a whole lot of rain. Not your ideal weather for going out in a open boat. The rain wasn’t so bad, our oil gear would keep us dry, but the high winds were another story. They were producing whitecaps and a huge swell, and even if we did go out, if you just missed that one wave, you were going for your last swim…ever.
I guess Ed had had enough sitting around, I’m sure he and his wife were getting on each others nerves, because at 6am he was knocking on my door. I happened to be up at the time, so I answered the door, and told him to come in. I made us both a coffee and asked him what was up? He said what I already knew, “let’s go!” I mentioned the wind still being up, he “assured” me all would be fine, just grab your gear, we will get supplies at the shop, and off we are going to go!
All our supplies were bought at his brother-in-laws store. Fred was a real card, spent most of his time on the road, supplying small communities scattered about, or buying supplies for his store. His wife, Ed’s sister Abbey, ran the store. They lived next door to the store, and since it was so early, Ed banged on her door to ask if she would open for us, we knew she would anyway, she was just that type of lady, willing to go out of her way for anyone.
We grabbed a few items, some meats, a few veggies, and of course Ed “needed” a 2 gallon jug of pickled wieners. I have to admit, he got me hooked on them, they were great when we were doing a little drinking and playing darts in his cabin. The last thing we grabbed were 4 cases of beer, and two quarts of Cabot Tower rum. The rum was 150 over-proof, and we could make 4 quarts out of the two, without it losing its “kick”.
and they’re off…
We grabbed our supplies and headed to the dock, Ed already had his boat tied to the wharf, he climbed down the ladder into the boat, and i started handing him the supplies from above. His boat was a 21 foot fiberglass open boat with 2- 40 hp Yamaha outboards. we stowed the gear in the middle, Ed would be at the stern, I would sit upfront near the bow to hopefully balance the boat better for the trip.
The trip on any other day, weather being decent, took about 20 minutes, I had a feeling today was going to be a little different. We started out fine, but then we were still in the shelter of the harbor. Well when we hit the open water… DAYUM! There were 10 foot swells and I was sitting shitting myself. Ed was at the stern, both motors going, and he had the steering arms, one under each of his arms, and a smile on his face. I wasn’t sure if he’d lost his mind or was ready to die.
He literally surfed those swells, expertly maneuvering each wave, and every once in awhile he’d give me a glance, and smile and laugh. The SOB was enjoying the trip, and even more, my fear. We were going slowly but surely to our destination, Eds cabin on Femme, pronounced FOM, and all of a sudden I saw a look come over Eds face.
I wasn’t sure what was up, but I knew it wasn’t good. We had missed a wave, now Ed was doing all he could to get us back on track. He was a very skilled boatman, and finally got us back to where we needed to be, even he looked relieved,and he could tell by the look on my face, and the whites of my knuckles holding on to the boat taut, (seat) that I was more than a little petrified.
Fuck it, Grab us a beer!
That was when he looked at me and said, Fuck it, grab us a beer! So I did, and then he said, Whew, that was a close one! He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t ask, because as far as I was concerned, it was a need to know basis, and I didn’t need to know! So far this trip had taken us an hour, and we were closing in on the inlet where his camp was, a welcome sight to be sure.
When we hit that beach I breathed a sigh of relief, Ed, he had already grabbed a few of the supplies to take to the cabin, so, I followed suit. It didn’t take long to unload the supplies and get them to the cabin, and soon we would be ready for another adventure…