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Bodie's Maiden Voyage
Bodie couldn't sleep at all.
He was going to splash his new boat in the morning and see how it handled the water. Since his friends had surprised him with it, he had been spending a lot of time down south at some new pastureland that Mr. Connor had leased and it left no time for the boat.
He hadn't been able to concentrate very well on things that needed to be done as all he could think about was that big shiny rig at his house and the desire to put it in the water and see what it would do was almost overwhelming. But tomorrow was the day.
Bodie finally fell asleep and was up at his usual early hour. He made a pot of strong coffee, fried a few strips of bacon and scrambled some eggs with some fiery salsa and warmed up some tortillas. He wrapped the eggs and bacon up in one of the big burrito size tortillas that Monroe's wife Sarita kept him well supplied with, poured coffee into a big insulated mug and headed out the door.
He still couldn't get over how big the boat was and as he walked along the side of it to his truck he felt a shock of excitement surge through him. "Dang if I'm not as excited as a school boy on his first date!" Bodie said to himself.
He hadn't called Red or Tommy to let them know that he was taking the boat out. In fact as far as they knew he was still down in the valley taking care of business. It wasn't that he didn't want their company; he just didn't want any distractions while learning the new boat.
Bodie backed the long trailer down the ramp, tied a rope off to a cleat on the pier then backed down far enough for the boat to float off of the trailer. After parking his truck and trailer Bodie almost jogged back to the dock. He untied the bow rope, stepped up onto the raised console and turned the key to start the big outboard.
Bodie didn't hear the motor start and as he tried to start the already running motor he heard the flywheel grind. A man and his wife who were about to get underway in the next slip chuckled and the man said, "Did the same thing myself the first time I started my new 4-stroke."
Bodie smiled sheepishly at the man, tipped his hat to the lady and backed out into the Intracoastal Waterway.
"Now, let's see what you'll do pretty lady," Bodie said out loud.
Easing the throttle forward Bodie was amazed that the boat had no bow rise at all on initial acceleration. Increasing speed to around 40 mph he messed with the jack plate height but quickly lowered the motor back to the position that it was in. "Man I'm going to have to learn to run a boat all over again." Bodie thought.
Bodie, out of habit, almost throttled back to make a hard turn to port into a small cut as he would have done in his old boat. "No, let's just see what you can do baby," Bodie said as he almost turned too sharp, not being used to the smooth hydraulic steering.
The 24' SVT hugged the water and didn't slide at all as Bodie made the hard turn. In just a few seconds he was running across the shallow sand bar and into open water. "Now let's see how you handle some deep water," Bodie thought to himself.
The southeast wind had picked up a little as the sun started making an appearance but there were no whitecaps yet but Bodie changed the trim just a bit to bring the bow up a little and pushed forward on the throttle. "Good Lord!" Bodie said out loud. "Man some kind of outboard on the back of this thing," Bodie said with a smile.
Bodie toyed with switches and buttons, he messed with the jack plate and the trim, and realized he had forgotten to turn the GPS on, so he touched the power button on it and watched it light up. "I'm going to have to shut down to learn how to use this one," Bodie thought. A few minutes later Bodie was idling down to ease up to a shoreline that he wanted to wade.
Bodie chuckled as he lowered the Power Pole to anchor the boat and thought how easy it made anchoring in preparation for wading. As he was scanning the shoreline looking for bait his eyes locked on the big GPS and he started fiddling with it. Thirty minutes later Bodie had the GPS ready to go and knew how to operate it, then started messing with the live well.
After pumping water into the live well and then draining it back out through the deck scuppers he was amazed at the efficiency of the system. Just then he heard some mullet get blasted by a toothy critter but ignored it as he was looking at how the LED lights came on when you opened any of the numerous deck hatches. While Bodie wasn't much on music on the boat, the stereo system was just too cool to not have it playing. He quickly found out that it didn't take much volume to be too loud, what with all the speakers it had.
It was almost lunch time and Bodie hadn't made one cast but, he somehow didn't care. Learning all the bells and whistles of his new boat was more fun than he had had in a long time.
He raised the Power Pole and started the outboard. At the first nudge of the throttle the boat seemed to glide effortlessly and on plane. Shaking his head he decided to see how it handled a back lake that he liked to fish but that had a very shallow opening. The Transport skipped across the grass and sand into the lake like it was riding on air.
Finally Bodie decided he should be getting back so he could clean the boat and grab some supper, and with that he began a big circle and headed back to the ramp.
Later that evening, walking into Haddon's, everyone was happy to see him. Red ordered Bodie a beer and Tommy said that he would get the next round. Red asked Bodie when he was going to get his new boat out on the water and Bodie confessed to having already done that.
"You already ran your new boat and didn't take me?" Tommy whined.
"I did Tommy and don't think that I didn't think about you and Red, but I thought I should familiarize myself with the boat all by my lonesome," Bodie admitted to his friend.
"As it should be Bodie," Red said. "A man has to be able to get to know his new toys and there isn't a better way than doing it on his own with no distractions and Lord knows that Tommy's a HUGE distraction," Red told Bodie with a laugh.
Tommy didn't think it was funny but everyone that heard it laughed too but before Tommy's feelings could get hurt, everyone offered to buy him a beer.
Bodie told them all how the boat handled and about what each button and switch did. He bragged about the power and speed, he raved about the ride and he told them how a light came on inside every compartment when the lid was opened.
"Well I guess it's better for Bodie to have the first run by himself but I'm going with him next time and you can't go Red," Tommy told Red with a sneer.
Bodie just sighed and ordered the chicken and dumplings, and rolling her eyes, Eloisa brought the three of them a fresh beer.
He was going to splash his new boat in the morning and see how it handled the water. Since his friends had surprised him with it, he had been spending a lot of time down south at some new pastureland that Mr. Connor had leased and it left no time for the boat.
He hadn't been able to concentrate very well on things that needed to be done as all he could think about was that big shiny rig at his house and the desire to put it in the water and see what it would do was almost overwhelming. But tomorrow was the day.
Bodie finally fell asleep and was up at his usual early hour. He made a pot of strong coffee, fried a few strips of bacon and scrambled some eggs with some fiery salsa and warmed up some tortillas. He wrapped the eggs and bacon up in one of the big burrito size tortillas that Monroe's wife Sarita kept him well supplied with, poured coffee into a big insulated mug and headed out the door.
He still couldn't get over how big the boat was and as he walked along the side of it to his truck he felt a shock of excitement surge through him. "Dang if I'm not as excited as a school boy on his first date!" Bodie said to himself.
He hadn't called Red or Tommy to let them know that he was taking the boat out. In fact as far as they knew he was still down in the valley taking care of business. It wasn't that he didn't want their company; he just didn't want any distractions while learning the new boat.
Bodie backed the long trailer down the ramp, tied a rope off to a cleat on the pier then backed down far enough for the boat to float off of the trailer. After parking his truck and trailer Bodie almost jogged back to the dock. He untied the bow rope, stepped up onto the raised console and turned the key to start the big outboard.
Bodie didn't hear the motor start and as he tried to start the already running motor he heard the flywheel grind. A man and his wife who were about to get underway in the next slip chuckled and the man said, "Did the same thing myself the first time I started my new 4-stroke."
Bodie smiled sheepishly at the man, tipped his hat to the lady and backed out into the Intracoastal Waterway.
"Now, let's see what you'll do pretty lady," Bodie said out loud.
Easing the throttle forward Bodie was amazed that the boat had no bow rise at all on initial acceleration. Increasing speed to around 40 mph he messed with the jack plate height but quickly lowered the motor back to the position that it was in. "Man I'm going to have to learn to run a boat all over again." Bodie thought.
Bodie, out of habit, almost throttled back to make a hard turn to port into a small cut as he would have done in his old boat. "No, let's just see what you can do baby," Bodie said as he almost turned too sharp, not being used to the smooth hydraulic steering.
The 24' SVT hugged the water and didn't slide at all as Bodie made the hard turn. In just a few seconds he was running across the shallow sand bar and into open water. "Now let's see how you handle some deep water," Bodie thought to himself.
The southeast wind had picked up a little as the sun started making an appearance but there were no whitecaps yet but Bodie changed the trim just a bit to bring the bow up a little and pushed forward on the throttle. "Good Lord!" Bodie said out loud. "Man some kind of outboard on the back of this thing," Bodie said with a smile.
Bodie toyed with switches and buttons, he messed with the jack plate and the trim, and realized he had forgotten to turn the GPS on, so he touched the power button on it and watched it light up. "I'm going to have to shut down to learn how to use this one," Bodie thought. A few minutes later Bodie was idling down to ease up to a shoreline that he wanted to wade.
Bodie chuckled as he lowered the Power Pole to anchor the boat and thought how easy it made anchoring in preparation for wading. As he was scanning the shoreline looking for bait his eyes locked on the big GPS and he started fiddling with it. Thirty minutes later Bodie had the GPS ready to go and knew how to operate it, then started messing with the live well.
After pumping water into the live well and then draining it back out through the deck scuppers he was amazed at the efficiency of the system. Just then he heard some mullet get blasted by a toothy critter but ignored it as he was looking at how the LED lights came on when you opened any of the numerous deck hatches. While Bodie wasn't much on music on the boat, the stereo system was just too cool to not have it playing. He quickly found out that it didn't take much volume to be too loud, what with all the speakers it had.
It was almost lunch time and Bodie hadn't made one cast but, he somehow didn't care. Learning all the bells and whistles of his new boat was more fun than he had had in a long time.
He raised the Power Pole and started the outboard. At the first nudge of the throttle the boat seemed to glide effortlessly and on plane. Shaking his head he decided to see how it handled a back lake that he liked to fish but that had a very shallow opening. The Transport skipped across the grass and sand into the lake like it was riding on air.
Finally Bodie decided he should be getting back so he could clean the boat and grab some supper, and with that he began a big circle and headed back to the ramp.
Later that evening, walking into Haddon's, everyone was happy to see him. Red ordered Bodie a beer and Tommy said that he would get the next round. Red asked Bodie when he was going to get his new boat out on the water and Bodie confessed to having already done that.
"You already ran your new boat and didn't take me?" Tommy whined.
"I did Tommy and don't think that I didn't think about you and Red, but I thought I should familiarize myself with the boat all by my lonesome," Bodie admitted to his friend.
"As it should be Bodie," Red said. "A man has to be able to get to know his new toys and there isn't a better way than doing it on his own with no distractions and Lord knows that Tommy's a HUGE distraction," Red told Bodie with a laugh.
Tommy didn't think it was funny but everyone that heard it laughed too but before Tommy's feelings could get hurt, everyone offered to buy him a beer.
Bodie told them all how the boat handled and about what each button and switch did. He bragged about the power and speed, he raved about the ride and he told them how a light came on inside every compartment when the lid was opened.
"Well I guess it's better for Bodie to have the first run by himself but I'm going with him next time and you can't go Red," Tommy told Red with a sneer.
Bodie just sighed and ordered the chicken and dumplings, and rolling her eyes, Eloisa brought the three of them a fresh beer.