Your first time on a boat

Wifey B; said:

So many of you in olden days, in some form of boat related to commercial fishing or logging or other things, in small boats...Different worlds.

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Those folks grew up with boats as a necessity, not a toy.

; said:

He wasn't allowed near the water since he didn't know how to swim. Her first time was when she was young...there was a tragedy. Neither of them ever got on a boat again and still worry about us every time we do. They won't get in a pool either.

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The tragedy is when you allow those things to cripple you for life. A friend of 72 doesn't swim a lick but every summer for the past 20 years of travel up the BC coast has donned a life jacket daily and jumped in for a thrash around.

I saw my first floater at age 4, pulled from under a log boom with a pike pole and left on the float until an available boat could transport him to the morgue in Alert Bay. As vivid a memory and part of life as the old Easthope gillnetters.

Hawgwash said:

Those folks grew up with boats as a necessity, not a toy.

The tragedy is when you allow those things to cripple you for life. A friend of 72 doesn't swim a lick but every summer for the past 20 years of travel up the BC coast has donned a life jacket daily and jumped in for a thrash around.

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Wifey B: A lot was how the adults reacted. In her case, it was a church camp and it dominated their lives for some time. Parents up in arms. The parents of the child that died even sued the church. No more camp. Sounds like the parents handled it poorly and instead of comforting the kids, further scared them. All the parents were scared of their kids going near the water so all the kids were scared. Guess that's where I'm lucky. I never listened to my parents on anything.

They never told any of the neighbors except us. They love living on the water, just not getting in a boat and going anywhere. We mentioned getting help, counseling, but they said they would if they were younger but at their ages they were happy and content and just didn't have a strong desire to try to change it. They miss us when we're away but they love taking care of our place for us when we're away. Then they get excited when we return. Her comment was that their life was perfect today and they were comfortable accepting it as it was. She even said that they could probably go on the boat with us and be ok and feel safe, that they trust us that much, but very unlikely they'd truly enjoy it like we do. I think she may have been right there. I know people scared of flying get to where they can do it, but it never becomes something they enjoy. Fact is, they don't need to be boaters to enjoy life. I think sometimes we forget that others don't have to enjoy the same things we do in life.

Most of us have some form of phobia and most have a deep rooted cause or origination.

My back-east cousin's families all had lake boats at their places "up north", which I visited many summers. I saw a picture of myself as a baby on one of them, and my earliest memories were on those boats. My parents didn't care for boats (or hunting or fishing or any of the fun things my back-east cousins spent their time doing -- probably why my parents moved west). At about 7 years old, I bought a plastic inflatable in which I spent hours floating in our swimming pool, imagining that I was far off shore (not even on a lake) fishing.

Around 1961 I was 4ish I guess. My dad had a Montgomery Wards, aluminum boat, maybe 8-10'.

The kind of boat, standing up in was impossible, without flipping the dam thing over.
We would fish mountain lakes, and the tiny backwater sloughs of the Calif Delta, some of which have silted over, and are gone.

About the same era, my Grandpa had a [what I thought to be] large wooden yacht, berthed in Pittsburg Ca. We would spend a Sat or Sunday out all day fishing. The boat would chug, chug, chug along slowly. Much like an old pumping sound. They [my dad and grandpa] would sit there all day, patiently waiting, while I was climbing the "walls" ......Would give anything to go back and do it again.

I don't remember the first, first time. I remember in college, going to Charleston with a sorority sister and going on her dad's ski boat. I think it was Memorial Day weekend. I remember her dad helping someone else on the water and them trying to pay him. He said that boaters help each other, and refused the money. That has always stuck with me.

Early 50's I was about 2. Dad and mom rented a row boat on some calm canal; where I've not a clue! Pretty good size. It held four of us, including my 7 year older brother. I vividly recall how much I loved hanging over the side and dabbling my fingers in the water. I was struck from that point on. In months Dad had our own O/B boat with small cabin. From there to now has been just a Real-Big-Blink! LOL

5 years old on my uncles wood cuddy cabin. We broke down and had to be towed back. Mom captured the trip on the 8mm camera.

For me it was in 1968 and my dad who had just come ashore from working on big ships was driving harbour workboats. Sydney harbour (Australia) would be so full of ships that they had to anchor offshore and wait till berths became available to unload.
Dad took me one night for a offshore crew pickup,I was 5 and it's still a vivid memory, we went out empty and the boat rocked so much I thought it would roll over any second,I couldn't see a thing outside the windows just blackness.My Dad didn't seem fussed at all,I was counting lifejackets.
The ship we went to seemed about a mile high,we picked up a dozen big burly blokes who didn't seem to notice the rocking at all.They laughed and joked all the was back.
After that night I was rarely scared on a boat,just occasionally.

Greetings,
Ms. WB. "So many of you in olden days..." Good grief! You make it sound like we all went out with the tribe in the dugout to hunt for woolly mammoths.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Ms. WB. "So many of you in olden days..." Good grief! You make it sound like we all went out with the tribe in the dugout to hunt for woolly mammoths.

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Well!!??

BTW - As a tribe - we always hunted tuna, not hairy, smelly Mammoth!

Kidding aside.... One item I notice in the posts is how well many if not all of us "vividly" recall our 1st "on a boat" "in the water" experience. Shows how impressive boat[ing]/water[borne] reality is to young minds. There are usually only a handful of experiences in life where the initial feeling never really leaves and becomes etched in our minds. Obviously our first boat[ing]/water[borne] reality is one of those instances.

Seeing as we on this thread became immediately attracted (addicted??) to boat and water... On the other hand: I can't help but wonder how and if those (others) felt any urge... who had a boat/water first experience and did not like it such as we did?? Guess answer to that is inconsequential, and, we'll never know - but oh well - who cares anyway!! Our "family" of boat/water loving folks are who I [we] really want to hang-out with... till we can't breath no-mo!

WB - TY 4 this interesting thread. Shows you're always thinking, with multi dimensional synapse "snaps" a floaten in yer brain. Some day you too will become an old boater... but... don't rush it, ever!!

Happy Boat Luven/Liven Daze! - Art

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Ms. WB. "So many of you in olden days..." Good grief! You make it sound like we all went out with the tribe in the dugout to hunt for woolly mammoths.

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Wifey B: I don't know what you and the tribe hunted....

Teasing aside, it's a time and place for many here that is so distant from any I ever experienced and any my hubby experienced. Generational. Location. We're city folk. So many of you grew up in less populated areas with much different activities around you.

I think also it makes me think further. Like what about the next generation of boater? How will they first be exposed? Then we grew up inland. Boating was lakes. Boating on the ocean never crossed my mind. I didn't know normal people did that (Guess I still don't know about normal people as I don't even know what they are). I thought the pontoon boat was humongous. Hubby thought 30' was a huge boat. We pictured boating on inland lakes. One thing I've noticed too is how many of you were introduced to it by your fathers and family. I wonder how much of that is happening today.

I would guess there aren't a lot of people who grew up where hubby or I did that are here on TF. They're probably still boating on the lakes in the area they lived in. I see another topic coming.