We rounded a bend on The Old West River with a cruiser in impatient pursuit and there crossways across the river was a narrowboat. They were trying to turn a fifty foot boat in a forty eight foot wide river and surprise, surprise it had got stuck. The woman is on the bank heaving at the bow rope the man is at the tiller revving the engine for all it is worth (it’s OK it’s only a hire boat) and the boat is jammed at both ends: the bow in the pilings the stern in the reeds. He shouts at us not to come too close (we weren’t intending to). They swap places she sits at the stern revving he pulls at the front. He is panicking, it’s bad enough getting your boat stuck but getting it stuck with an audience….. He leans over to pull at a different angle and falls in the river. I’m not laughing, honest I’m not laughing and my crew-mate Karen isn’t laughing either, we've stuffed hankies into our mouths to make sure we're not laughing. As a frequent faller-iner I have a great deal of sympathy with him. Honestly it’s not at all funny.
I send Karen to the front to ask if they’d like a push. The lady says ‘Yes Please’ so I gently push against the side, that doesn’t work. I reverse, give a bit more throttle, hit the side nearer the stern with a thump and suddenly they are released like a cork from a champagne bottle. We wave cheerily and go on our way leaving the gentleman to dry off and regain some dignity.
The river cruiser uses the fact that I am now slowly scraping along in the reed bed to overtake me on the wrong side at a bend. Huhhh….
No comments:
Post a Comment