"Joe Cool's" Fishing Adventure

Joe Cool’s Fishing Adventure
-an exciting and valuable true story for boys and girls ages 6-12. Joe learns to keep “cool” and cope with an emergency when the family fishing boat capsizes…
(illlustrations in progress)

My name is Joe. Some people call me “Joe Cool”.
Early one Sunday morning in August when I was eight, my Grampy called on the phone and asked,”Joe, would you like to go fishing today?”
I always had a great time fishing out on Quincy Bay, with my Grampy, Nana and Uncle Robbie, so I said, “Sure!” after my Mom and Dad said I could go. Grampy said they would pick me up in an hour.
Robbie had dug the worms for bait. Nana and Grampy packed the fishing gear and a lunch to eat aboard the boat.
In about an hour they picked me up with my fishing pole and we drove to the dock where their boat was moored. It was a 16 foot white and blue fiberglass hull with a 35 horsepower outboard motor,a windshield, steering wheel, seats for four passengers and a canopy for shade from the sun.
Grampy checked the life preservers,oars ,anchor, lines, motor and gas to make sure we were safely prepared.
When everything was ready, Grampy , “the Commodore” gave the order to “cast off all lines!” and we were underway. We passed the yacht clubs with the large sailboats and cabin cruisers and the shipyard with the enormous oil tankers and reached the open channel. Grampy let me steer for a while following the marker buoys.
We cruised by the Nut Island sewerage pumping station and headed out near the Boston Harbor Islands. In fifteen more minutes we were at the “Glory Hole” , the spot where we always had our best fishing during the summer. Grampy turned off the motor and Robbie threw the anchor overboard.
It was a beautiful warm day with bright sunny skies and light winds. Our boat bobbed up and down gently with the small swells. There were boats of all kinds and sizes around us –sailboats, fishing boats,big cabin cruisers and large ships on their way out to sea.
We fished for several hours passing the time in between bites by talking, telling stories, eating lunch and watching the other boats. Each of us won prizes for the fish we caught: I got the first; Grampy got the most, Nana landed the largest and Robbie reeled in the strongest. After a while it got a little windier and cooler . Robbie and I pulled up the anchor;Grampy started the motor and we headed back in .
Everything went smoothly as usual until we hit a rough spot between two islands called “the gut” and water became very choppy. This had happened before so it did not bother us.Suddenly a very big wave from a large boat that came too close washed over the bow and filled the inside of our boat.! We were all surprised, but Grampy acted quickly.He tried the hand pump but it could not handle the water that rushed in. Nana grabbed a life preserver and and buckled it around me in a flash and held on to me. The boat quickly filled completely up with water, sank from under us and tipped over! Out floated our gas tank, fishing rods, cooler with the fish we caught, everything – and us!
The shore was only about 100 yards away ,but we remembered –“always stay with the boat…don’t try to swim to shore, wait for help”. The water was cold and it had all happened so fast, but Nana held on to me tightly and I wasn’t afraid. I knew we would be OK. Grampy and Robbie yelled to nearby boats for help.
It seemed like a very long time ,but in about 5 minutes a big cabin cruiser pulled up beside us and a kind man and woman helped us climg aboard. We were soaked and cold ,but happy to be afloat again. The friendly couple gave us towels to dry off. Grampy attached a line to our swamped boat to tow it into the Coast Guard pier at a nearby island. The nice couple then brought us back into the Bay and to our home dock and car.
When we pulled into Nana and Grampy’s driveway my Mother and Father came running out of the house and threw their arms around us, especially me. They had been called by the Coast Guard and told that our sunken boat was at their pier ,but not that we had been saved. A search had been started for us and they had been so worried- but now they were so happy!
To celebrate our “rescue” we all went out to a Chinese restaurant for a delicious meal. My fortune cookie said,” you will learn much from a great adventure that ends happily”. We all laughed because it was true. I had learned to be “cool” in an emergency ,not to panic and everything had turned out fine. We had helped each other and kind people had helped us.
In a few weeks Grampy had the boat fixed. One Sunday morning he called to ask if I’d like to go fishing again . I said, “Sure!” and he said, “OK, I’ll pick you up in an hour –Joe Cool!”