Floating irony

James and I are lucky enough to have some great friends who own a boat (two, actually). During the summer they will take us out on the river for a nice cruise and float and then we usually head to one of the bars on the Ohio for dinner and a drink.

Floatin'.

It's always one of my most favorite things to do in the summer. My family isn't big into boating, either, so this is always new to me. We get to spend time with friends, on the cool river, with nothing to do but chat and relax. It is so nice because there are no other distractions. No TVs, no cell phones, just good friends and good music. We cruise around and usually stop in the same cove to anchor and chill for a while. After we get hungry we cruise down the river to the bars and dock. These restaurants are great because they will serve you right from the boat! The waiters will come on down and take your order or you can go up for a seat. The river is always so nice and peaceful. After dinner we usually take the boat down so we can get a good look at the lights downtown, and see our city from a totally different perspective. It's always a great night, and always memorable, but this night in particular would be a little more memorable and a little less relaxing.

It was our friend's first night out on the river that summer. The boat had been winterized for the past few months. We laughed and joked about the one paddle they had on board, and who would get to row us back if something went wrong...

We headed up river, still joking that at least if something did go wrong we would be able to float back down to where we were parked. Soon we were near the cove where we park it and float, when our friend, Britany, sitting in the rear of the boat with myself, and I both turned towards the engine behind/under us. It was an onboard motor that was covered with seats and cup holders. A great little "click-click" noise was coming out of the seats.

"Chad.. something is making a noise back here..." she said, and just then... smoke started rolling out of the seats.

Chad turned and James took the helm (thats the wheel, right?), ran back, and ripped the cover off of the engine compartment. Smoke rolled out and pouf-ed up in a cloud around the boat. Awful, stinky, smelly white smoke. It poured out of the back of the boat and Britany and I ran to the front (the bow?), ready to jump ship - literally. The boat was off and drifting downstream by now and I was wondering at what point do I push James and our friends overboard and dive in after?

"Pull the pin!" James yelled, the smoke still erupting from the engine compartment, but now with large sparks accompanying it, precariously close to the full gas tank. Luckily, fellow boaters were jetting up to us at this point. They had seen the huge cloud of smoke coming from the boat and soon enough they were beside us. We threw them some ropes and they tossed us a second fire extinguisher. After a solid three minutes the fire was under control (Hey! Three minutes is a long time when you are trapped on an island of fire).

Our fellow boaters towed us to shore and we hauled the boat out of the water. Chad was determined not to let this ruin our night, and I am glad for it because it actually turned out quite nice, believe it or not. They called some other friends who just happened to be at their river house with the boat in the water. We drove down the road a ways and met up with these new friends, hopped onto their boat and continued on with our night as planned, just covered in fire extinguisher foam and reeking of electrical smoke.

(Just FYI, the boat made a full recovery and we have since been out on her again!)