Neither of us had a driver license, so to get Larry's boat down
to the Puget Sound four blocks away, we had to put a long 2x4 through
the tongue. With Denny on one side and I on the other, we would start
pulling the boat down to the water, Larry was the brakeman.
We took the boat off the trailer and carried it over to the
water, then we would chain the trailer to the pier. One of us would
stay with the boat, as the others went home to get their sleeping bags
and food, then when they returned, the other would go and get his
stuff.
We loaded up the boat and took off towards Blake Island three
miles away, out in the Puget Sound. No one lived on Blake Island; it
was owned by the federal government. We planned to spend our spring
break on the Island.
As we approached Blake Island, there was a Tug and a barrage
anchored about 100 yards off shore from our favorite beach. We went
around the front of the tug, and beached our boat. We decided to have
lunch before unloading the boat, so we started a fire to cook our hot
dogs.
The sailors on the tug started yelling at us, but we could not
make out what they were saying, so we ignored them. The next thing we
know, the sailors were lowering a rowboat over the side.
We made the decision; the sailors were not going to chase us
off our beach. We loaded our pockets up with rocks, then pushed our
boat into the water, and went out to buzz the rowboat, and shoot at
them with our sling shots. A couple of near misses, with our sling
shots, forced the sailors to turn their rowboat around, and head back
to the tug.
As we turned back to the beach, we could see a Coast Guard
Cutter, coming our way out of the south. A 40 foot Coast Guard Cutter
could do 60 knots, we knew we were in trouble, so we headed home. The
Cutter went over to the Tug, then turned and came after us.
We hit the beach running, we picked up the loaded boat and
threw it on the trailer, I don't know where we got the strength; I
think its called fear. We unchained the trailer, threw the 2x4 through
the tongue and took off running. There was a line of cars, waiting to
get on the ferry, the people in their cars, just stared at us running
by, pulling the boat.
We could look down at the beach in-between the houses we were
passing, the cutter hit the beach, its twin screws kicking the sand
high into the air, and the sailors were jumping off the boat with
rifles in their hands. Oh damn, in a matter of minutes, we pushed the
boat up the hill, into Larry's parents double car garage, and waited.
The Coast Guard Officer went to the house, and got Larry's
mother to come out and get us out of the garage. Each of us was given
a ticket; we had to report to a Federal Judge at the Coast Guard
Station at Sand Point with our parents.
What did we do wrong? The tug was hauling a explosives in the
barrage, and when a tug has a red flag on top of it's mast, other
boats were not allowed within 500 yards of the Tug. The Federal Judge
sentenced us to night school for a month at the Coast Guard
Station....
to learn the laws of the sea.
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