We assured our guest that people-watching
at the lock was a fun summertime treat, right up there with the homemade ice
cream stand which we visited as part of our excursion. Invariably we would see
teenage girls sunbathing in their bikinis, eyes closed and apparently ear-lids
closed too as they remained motionless and oblivious to their parents’ requests
to “fend off from that boat in front!”
Or we would watch as new boat drivers tried to maneuver into the lock
without scratching along the lock door or any of the dozen boats packed in
around them. Once a coast guard
enforcement officer was on hand and was quick to ticket boaters with two
children who weren’t wearing life jackets even as they were dangling their
fingers over the edge of the boat between the fiberglass hull and cement wall
of the lock. “But they were
wearing them just 5 minutes ago”, the mother retorted. “We only took the life jackets off so
the kids could have their snack.” No
comment.
Today, however, was our most
eventful lock excursion to date.
We stepped out of our car just as over a dozen boats were about to enter
the lock. We watched with interest
as each attempted with varying degrees of success to follow the lockmaster’s directions
and move into place without knocking into any other boater or cement wall.
Surprisingly everyone on each
boat seemed to be helping to keep their boats from banging into one another
despite the best efforts of the drivers to play bumper boats. One boat had
a crew of three deaf men 'shouting' at one another and offering opposing
opinions on where to come to rest in the lock. The lockmaster motioned to the middle of the lock and the
deaf driver deftly directed his boat between two larger vessels.
As the lock filled we enjoyed watching
two boaters trading a cookie for a beer across boats— the swappers hadn't met
each other prior, just sharing what they had in good humor. When the lock
filled and the lock door swung open we anticipated an uneventful departure of boats
through the lock gate.
The boats slowly start pulling
out, most not quite slowly enough, and one was getting caught in the back
current outside the lock and slowed judiciously. Unfortunately the driver just behind the slowing craft, was
moving forward at a steady clip.
Her male companion sat with his legs dangling over the bow ready to fend
off of the decelerating boat. However,
the boat driver decided that the best way to avoid the boat in front would by
throwing her boat in reverse hard and fast without consideration for any one or
any boat that might be behind—and let it be noted that there were several boats
behind. Our shouts of “Stop!” went
unnoticed. As any student of
physics will know, a strong force applied in reverse while a man sits on the
edge of a wet boat deck will quickly unseat the startled man. The "splash"
of her companion hitting the water only just preceded the loud 'Crunch,
Scri--i-i-itch" of her engine digging into the bow of the motorboat behind
her.
The lockmaster remained serene
and calmly suggested they move on past the next bridge before stopping to
discuss the poor timing of their boats meeting.
Meanwhile while we had suggested the
driver stop reversing, we had not suggested she move forward, which she did
anyhow and nearly ran over her companion. Fortunately he was able to
quickly grab on to the bow of their boat and pull himself back on deck before
he was run over.
Yow za! What
excitement. I doubt we’ll be able
to match the excitement of a simultaneous crash and passenger ejection at the
lock any time soon.
