My brother and I decided to go fishing yesterday afternoon. I have a 17’ bass boat so it’s really stable when in the water. We had only been out about 20 minutes when another boater decided to see just how fast his boat could go in a no wake area. The wake from his boat caught ours from the side. Not having very good balance, it caused me to fall out of my seat and into the water. Not to worry, I had my life vest on and I’m a good swimmer.
Mike (brother) said he had just glanced up towards me to see how I was doing. He said one second I was in the chair and the next I was in the water. He was laughing so hard he had tears streaming down his face. For me, at first it was a shock. Then I got mad. When I saw Mike laughing I realized it was pretty darn funny. He grabbed for me to help me back into the boat. I pulled him in for laughing.
So now here are two fifty plus year old men flapping about in the water laughing at each other. That’s when a police boat pulled up with siren blaring wanting to know what happened. They helped us back into our boat and we gave them a description of the other boat. They were really ****** when they found out I had PD. They went on their way to catch the idiot in the other boat. Something tells me that guy is in a lot of trouble about now.

I wish we could have gotten it on video. Today my stomach hurts from laughing so much.

GregD

thanks for sharing this story with us, Greg - I read it with a huge smile on my face! Aren't you glad you are still able to be fishing and getting tossed in the water? A real joy!

Where were you fishing that there was a patrol boat so close at hand? Maverick boaters just drive me nuts - really dangerous!

I just noticed that we were both dx'd in 1999 at age 41 - you seem to be doing well; I'd like to think that I would have come through the same boating experience safe and laughing as well!

Cheers!

I'm glad you didn't get hurt and had your life vest on.
It could have been a child or someone who couldn't swim...
I hope the police did catch up to those other people.

Sometimes those happenings do make for humorous memories.

And I'm glad you landed on water this time instead of concrete and didn't break anything!

paula

Thanks for sharing. I printed it out and read it to for Kevin, who is laid up with his partial knee replacement (that's a joy with PD don't you know!). He got a huge kick out of picturing it.......Glad you and your brother are none the worse for wear!

Great story, Greg. I would have liked to have been there!
Robert

For a change I didn't get hurt and my brother is all wet anyhow. I'm also glad that it was me and not some little kid or someone that couldn't swim. The patrol boat just happened to come along. They have been having a lot of trouble with drunk boaters this summer so they patrol pretty heavily.
The police called me today wanting to know if I wanted to press charges. They caught the guy and gave him a ticket for $500. They said it was his first offence. I thought that was punishment enough for a first offence. If there had been an injury that would have been different.

gaykir - I can imagine a knee replacement is fun with PD. I had to have a knee worked on a couple of years ago where I fell and did some damage. That was bad enough.

jo55 - I wear my life vest at all times when on the boat because I know my balance is bad. You never know when your going for a trip.

indigogo - Yes I was dx'ed in 1999 at 41. Mornings seem to be my rough time. Towards noon or so I start to loosen up and move halfway decent until around 9pm - 10pm. Then I'm usually exhausted from all the things I try to get done while I can. That doesn't necessarily mean sleep comes easy though.

See ya in the funny papers,

GregD

You're right, GregD, that really should have been filmed.
Thank goodness ( and yourself ) that you wear a life west when you sail, and that you and your brother thought it was funny. You could both have remained furious....
I bet a good laugh like that is better than medicine. It's a story you'll laugh at again, and again.

birte

A famous (in Denmark) quote by Johannes V. Jensen. "They laughed at that all through the winter."