Mia came back from Berkeley to hang with me at the Lake.  Since she hasn’t fished on the boat ever,  I though it would be cool to teach her how to put the boat in and operate it in case she ever decides to go out herself (right).  We get to the lake around  noon and it is CROWDED.  Our launch number indicates 54 boats have already launched and the ramp is four deep.  I finally get the boat backed into the water and I throw the rope to Mia on the dock.  The boat starts to drift with the wind and start to pull Mia into the lake. I jump out of the truck bed and onto the dock to hang onto Mia and of all things the rope breaks and the boat starts to drift away from the dock.  At that point I envisioned swimming for it but in a moment of insanity, I decide to run and jump for the rail of the boat that is now about ten feet from the dock.  I can hear my daughter scream laughing as I fly over the water and land perfectly on the rail of the boat with my arms locked.   Everyone is staring now, and I hear me daughter mumble something like “is this the normal way you do it?”.  Clicking the key over to start the engine,  I discover to my further embarrassment, that the starter battery is dead.  I put the trolling motor down and bring it back to the dock.  What to do now?  Do I load the boat on the car by hand and leave in emberrasement or do I park the car and trailer, and switch the starter battery with the trolling motor.   I park the car,  we  trolling motor to  a small downwind cove away from the laughing crowd and I proceed to try to anchor and swap the batterys.  After running aground and almost loosing the anchor by failing to tie it to the end to the boat, we manage and the motor starts.

Aside from that,  it was a fantastic day.  Actually quite unforgettable considering everything that could go wrong did at the launchramp.