On Fri, 11 May 2007 07:44:47 -0400, "RCE" wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .



You probably won't believe this, but when I was a kid and a member of
the Sea Scouts I weighed all of 140 pounds dripping wet. One Saturday
morning a few of us were at the local Scout hangout (Beachcombers out
by Fort Sewall), somebody got the idea that we should try skiing
behind our restored 12 man whale boat.

We rounded up the rest of the whale boat crew and by afternoon had set
up in the harbor - 12 rowers, the Scout Master as coxswain (which was
normally my job) and me as the skier being the lightest guy on the
crew - no wind, flat calm.

Two false starts - third times the charm.

Skied for almost the length of Marblehead harbor. :)

We used to ski behind my 12' Sears aluminum boat with a 5-1/2 hp Johnson
"Sea Horse" engine.

Wasn't easy, but it can be done.

Those were fun days. Nobody worried about even registering the boat.

nostalgia

Growing up in Marblehead where a lot of my rather eclectic group of
friends were into everything and anything. Music, sports, drama, we
all had part-time jobs around town, a lot of my friends were sons and
daughters of lobster/fishermen - it was a great time to be a kid.

All the parents knew each other - members of the Lions, Rotary, CG
Aux, Odd Fellows, Masons, K of C - you name it and you couldn't get
away with anything because everybody knew everybody else. :)

The cops would look out for the kids and if things were getting out of
hand, made sure they got back under control just by saying "Hey, I saw
the Mother (or Father) the other night at...". The Harbor Master and
Police boat always knew where we were. More than one occasion when we
got up to something stupid, you'd see the Police or Harbor Master
boats slowly move out of the harbor and just be present - it was
enough to keep things calm and un stupid.

I remember one time I took my 13 foot Whaler Sport out to Halfway Rock
with three of my buddies to go "fishing" (read drink some beer) and
"Chummy" Frost, Scout Master, met us halfway there with the Harbor
Master, confiscated our beer and sent us on our way. Never a word to
the parents and when we got back, the beer was sitting in the Master's
office in the refrigerator. One each was the limit - the rest was
passed along to the adults.

Never happen in today's climate. :)

/nostalgia