June 16: Lucky (considering)

5 am: Back from the first flood pick. It was a training run. Up at 2:30, out at 3. Hugh, Trevor, and I worked the Bathtub (I have a special affinity for that outboard) and Jake, Roger, and Evan worked the Grayling (that 25 hp Johnson is persnickity and I think it favors the men). The Grayling is hard to work in because it has such low sides, so I took the tallest crew members with me - a little mercy on their backs. 1 fish.

But actually, the real reason I'm posting so early is to assure parents that we all survived sampling the year old cookies. No one seems any the worse for wear. I want that recipe! More later after we've slept a little more and fished a little more.

We went back out at 7 for a water haul on the rest of the tide, back in at 8. I had started some steel cut oats between the two picks - 3 cups of oats; 9 cups of water. Enough for 7 guys, right? Ha! So Yin and I also made ... I'm not sure what it was, but it involved onions, tomatoes, potatoes, kidney beans, black beans, eggs, and smoked salmon. Those disappeared too. I like to put beans into everything I reasonably can because they last so long in a person. Here we are at a meal. It's so much fun just to be in the same room listening to them as they wait to eat. And for all the parents out there: yes, they do offer to help; sometimes they wash their hands; and they've done all the dishes so far.

The Johnson outboard gave up during the morning tide so we towed the Grayling around to its various responsibilities and eventually loaded the outboard into the truck to take to Charlie's Sport Shop for repair (he laughed and said one week.) The main purpose of the trip into town was to get the Ambi - the Big Boat - ready to launch. Oh, the emotional aerobics of that process. Roger successfully replaced the fuel filter and installed a new antenna mount (yay!!) - which was promptly destroyed before the skiff even left the river (boo!!). He said changing the filter was easy - none of it looked easy to me. But the engine part of it was alarming and had me thinking about how much it would cost to replace the outboard by next week (boo!!).
The old battery is bubbling - replace it.
The new battery isn't fully charged and everyone is going to lunch - quick! Borrow one and see if the outboard will start and go.
Eek! Something is wrong. We can see a spark, but now the light isn't even turning on. -- Eek! Did you say "spark?" Negative on the positive? Disaster? Nope, just dirty terminals and icky clamps. Roy advises us, "clean and tight."
Yippee! We're ready to launch!! Jeff will take the helm, with Roger and Trevor as crew. We waited about a half hour before I was ready to abandon the launch crew because the rest of us need to get back to the nets and pick them up until Monday. I had wanted to stay for the launch because some powerful part of me thinks it's my fierce concentration that gets the boat launched unremarkably. I spotted the Crane Master and, not wanting to bug him I just asked if I should wait for the launch or leave for the beach. There's a skiff waiting to be launched? Oh... yeah... communication breaks down everywhere. It did give the kids a chance to go to mug-up. That's everybody's favorite time of the day - coffee break at 10 am, 3 pm, 8 (or is it 9?)pm. Free goodies, like cookies, cakes, grilled cheese sandwiches - oh, and coffee. On a nice day people stand out on the "balcony" and survey the domain.

A few minutes after the launch, we got a call:
We're dead in the water and drifting toward the mouth of the river." - Drop the anchor. Is the fuel line pinched? Is it firmly attached to the outboard? Is the tank getting some air? (All the while, I have a terrible feeling I know what happened - I think it's my fault for being so cheap - I hate to throw away leftover gas, even though I know condensation probably happened over the summer. Lesson 1 that I already knew but apparently needed a refresher course.)

Most of the crew is new and they haven't spent much time in the river on the water so it was hard to figure out where they were. But we finally sort of worked it out and, as with the stuck flatbed of a few days ago, if it had to happen, it couldn't have happened at a better place. I told them to wait till they could get out of the boat without swamping their waders and pull the boat to a nearby protected area and we'd come and get them in the truck as soon as we finished picking up the nets (with our one functioning boat). Hugh and Chris were with me and they were efficient so I began to think that we would have time to run to them in the skiff, tow the Ambi back to the processor for its recovery. And then I decided that there really is no rush, no need to add to the stress by trying to beat the tide when we're not really in a race. But then I couldn't figure out where to anchor the boat full of nets - we would need them at the outside sites on Monday. But first, we would need to take it into the river to recover the Ambi - and the sooner the better. Well... now, then. So I gave our total catch (3 fish) to Jake and zoomed out to the river. I imagined if my kids saw me, they wouldn't believe it since I usually drive like an old lady. And the wind had come up, pretty strong. The weather report says 24 MPH with gusts to 45. I think there were a lot of gusts.

I kept thinking that I should call the Ambi crew so they wouldn't beach it, but I didn't want to stop because I was racing the very quickly outgoing tide. I got to where I thought they were and couldn't see them. So I called. They had tied up the boat to a barge and caught a ride to the beach where Chris picked them up in the truck that he was using to follow me. I was slow and it took a few tries to get me to understand that. Lesson 2 that I already knew: try patience. Just for a minute. I'm not sure it was wise to head out for them. Maybe.

They had done just what I asked them to do, but more thoroughly and more quickly than I expected. But there was still time and they weren't far, so they came back to help me get to the Ambi with the Bathtub, with the extreme river current pushing us around. And they mentioned that Roy would come look at it. Oh. Then there's no reason to take it to him. Oh.

So I tried to race the tide home, but lost that race and started to hit bottom, something that would happen sooner than usual with that boat because of the weight of the nets it was carrying. Uh oh. I could anchor there, walk in and walk back out on the next tide. That's a long walk. I could walk the boat in, but I didn't know how well skiffs on this part of the beach ride a storm. OK, back to the protected cove place that I hoped Jeff and crew would take the Ambi. But I was low on gas. Made it even though the gas tank was floating by the time I beached it.

The uneasy thing is that the southeast wind blows straight down the river so the usually protected little space gets kind of wild. And my skiff with a heavy load. Sigh.

But I think the Bathtub is actually in a good place (assuming it doesn't swamp there and dump its nets and submerge our one working outboard) because it turns out that Roy wasn't actually planning to come rescue the Ambi's outboard... just that he for sure wouldn't walk through the sticky mud I was suggesting to do it, but he would come down a ladder and across a barge. Though I'm not sure about getting from the barge to the skiff... details!

So I think we may need to tow it to the processor after all and the Bathtub is in a decent place to begin that task. Too bad about all the nets. And the wind.

Chris and I will get up at 2 to check the wind and if it continues, we'll head in to babysit the boat and maybe to unload the nets into the back of the truck so the boat won't need such babysitting, it'll maneuver more easily in that outrageous current, and it'll be better able to do its expected towing job /// It's a good thing I'm writing this because as I wrote the previous sentence I realized what we needed to do: unload the nets into the truck while the tide is well out and before it can be a threat to the boat. And take the four wheeler and trailer that Hugh just got functional for us today, in case it's too boggy by the boat for the truck.

Jeff, Trevor, and I did that and loaded two nets into the truck and Jeff rode back with one in the four-wheeler trailer. We also had a chance to check on the Ambi which went dry very nicely. Except for the problems that need solving, all is well and we can sleep.