I checked the weather when I woke up about 7am ... decided that I was going out today. Other than perfect conditions, but what the hell right, no rain until the afternoon. Well, that's what it said anyway.
Went out, got some coffee and donuts, ham and cheese, gas, etc ... finished up getting the boat ready to leave the dock, and cast off around 9am. The only thing I forgot to do was check the tides. I honestly didn't think I needed to worry about it, as I generally had pretty good clearance leaving crab apple bay. BUT, today ignorance got the best of me and I got stuck in some mud five feet from the exit to the cab. Oh man, was I pissed.
At this point I looked up the tides and saw I'd be fine in about an hour ... so I sat, blocking traffic in and out waiting for the tides. Good thing there wasn't any traffic, but people at the dock were watching... I talked to my sister for a few minutes. Checked to make sure there wasn't a breach in the hull ... you know, the normal things you do when you hit bottom like sit there and look like an idiot. I tried backing out ... that just made it worse ... so I put it out of gear and a wave came in and pushed me into even more shallow water. So then I kept it in gear and started waiting.
Eventually I got free, and started heading out into the Chesapeake bay proper right when it started pouring down on me ... never trust the weather man, because that rain was five hours early. So I decided to turn around in case it got worse. It was relatively uneventful after that. Just me soaked and cold motoring back to the marina...
When I got back, I had me a nice hot shower right here on the boat courtesy of modern technology. So, it all made up for itself with that alone ...
Today was a lesson, no cats were harmed, and hey, I'm still here.
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