Tales from beyond the net ... or ... what exactly was I up to

[plural]

Episode 9

A Question of judgment

the scene

During the Sea kayaking phase of my outward bound course

Our Fearless leaders aka instructors
were conducting a seminar on Judgment
how to have good judgment and
prevent poor judgment

we were located on a rather pleasant white sand beach
the seminar was going rather well i thought
and judging by the semi-glazed eyes of my
teammates they must have agreed
we were learning all about the cycle of
education, experience and review
all of which provides the foundation of good judgment
our little seminar was coming to an end
when it was hesitantly interrupted by
a reticent and particularly embarrassed fellow
we paused and gave him our attention
and he informed us that he had been fishing
that he had caught a five foot shark
and his boat had mysteriously drifted out to sea
and would we be able to help him get it back
as it would be a long swim home from the island
we currently occupied

we quickly agreed and in getting the
specifics from the gentleman in question
i observed that he was without doubt
under the influence of some pretty kind bud

myself and one of the instructors [whom we called Telson] decided to wade out
to where his boat was and retrieve it
as the water was only two to three feet deep
for the first half mile off shore
[aren't nautical charts great]
we could see his boat in the distance
drifting off to the wide open sea

we amused ourselves with
the timely concurrence of such an
obvious instance of bad judgment
with our little seminar on judgment

we didn't stop to ponder
why the gentleman in question
had failed to wade out and retrieve his boat
in such shallow waters
we did however make light of his bravado
and general incompetence in this regard

the fact that the water quickly became deeper
than our charts listed went without much notice
it was high tide anyway
we moved from wading to swimming without
effort or regard

after about an half an hour swim
we reached the drifting boat
which at that moment still contained
his fishing pole
which had apparently in the mans absence
acquired and new and rather feisty
victim

we eased ourselves over the gunwales of the craft
and watched with amusement as the fishing pole
leapt from the craft and briefly circled the boat
before heading out to sea with uncommon speed

ah we were in luck the ragged boat
had a motor
my faithful instructor pulled the cord
to start the motor and was greatly dismayed
to find the pull handle and cord in one hand
and no longer connected to the engine for the boat

we looked around and found two paddles
in well it would be generous to call them good condition
and struck off from shore

now those of you who are nautically inclined
may appreciate the detail of our predicament
we were approximately a mile offshore
roughly an hour past high tide
with an offshore wind of approximately ten knots
in a twelve foot aluminum dinghy
which we had so gallantly rescued
the thought occurred to me
that rather than rescuing the craft
we may have just joined its fate
and Old Silas would have his way after all

not to be disenchanted with the
glorious nature of our rescue
Telson and I stuck out with our paddles
and with gusto paddled towards the island

after about twenty minutes
we noticed that our efforts were not
gaining much ground and paused bemused
it was at this point that we first noticed the shark
it was a beautiful creature about ten to twelve feet long
and gliding through glistening clear waters
which only scant minutes before we had been swimming

with little other option
we grinned and paddled on
a while later noticing we had made some progress
but that land was at least half a mile off
and the wind and tide was pushing us off target
without care we would miss the island altogether
we made an appropriate course correction
and continued
it was at this point
where i noticed the second and third sharks
each of the same approximate size and length
as the first
at this point we had to reconsider
who exactly had the poor judgment
with regard to swimming out to rescue an
otherwise worthless boat

i humored myself briefly with
the details of maritime salvage laws
which state that a boat adrift without
occupants was considered the property of
whomever claimed the vessel from the high seas
my moment of elation at this point of law
was promptly deflated when i remembered
that the craft was, as i mentioned before
utterly worthless

anyway this thoughts helped
take my mind off the arduous task
of paddling the vessel back to land
and the rather disconcerting fact
that we were continuing to see sharks
of various size
to say that the waters were
shark infested would
unduly promote the word infested
above its rightly statue among its fellow
adjectives

one fact which became clear to me
only upon my landing upon the island
was the the gentleman in question
was a shark-fisherman
and those who fish
and fish for shark specifically
tend to go to places
where sharks are present
in this case
the man had picked a spot
where even a someone with a significant
mental handicap such as himself
and while under the influence of both
marijuana and alcohol could still not fail
to catch a shark

anyway to wrap up the story
we did eventually manage to
return to shore and return the vessel
to its owner who was surprisingly
demonstrating intelligence beyond
his otherwise proven means
and remaining on dry land

in reward for the foolhardy rescue
of his craft he provided us with
two pounds of shark for our crew to enjoy

and while i no longer eat
shark or similar creatures
i allowed myself to be recruited
and marinated the shark flesh
simply with lemon and a few other spices
before preparing and serving
blacken shark appetizers to my crew
[albeit after the dinner was served]
[but why be picky after a day like that]