So long, old girl…The Last Ride
September 7, 2007
I came across this photo awhile back…I hadn’t seen it since I took it back in 2003. Anyway, it was snapped after I cranked my boat up on the trailer for the last time. She was as good as sold and I had a new Willie ready for delivery.
I get so attached to boats that it’s always sad to see them go — even when you’ve got a new one on the way. I spend so much time in these things that they almost become family, each scratch and ding in the paint a reminder of some previous adventure.
This red & white Clackacraft, in particular, was tough to let go because of her sentimental value. It was the boat that I started my guide business in; it was the first time I had an office with a view and no boss breathing down my neck. In the ol’ Clacka, I was free…I was in charge and it was an amazing feeling. Holy crap….people are actually paying me for this??
But, businesses change and I got more and more busy. I needed more room, more seats for clients. My guiding outgrew the boat, so she eventually had to go.
It was a sad day, this last ride…a million memories came back as I cranked her out of the river and onto the trailer. The first fish, a nice steelhead caught in July on the Low Flow of the Feather River; My first day of guiding, when I had one client and we had his and my limits of kings by 9 a.m. (this guiding thing is easy…boy was I wrong on that one!). The dark day when we had the freak sinking; the day when we drove all night to Portland to pick the boat up and that awesome smell of new fiberglass when I went out to the garage to see her (3 times) that first night I brought the boat home.
Hopefully, she’s out there somewhere making more memories for somebody else.
Comments
Got something to say?