For a number of years our flat-bottomed clinker built skiff served as our main means of transportation to the store, putting along at maybe 7 miles an hour if you stretched your thinking. As times changed, the outboard motor became the choice for getting around in a hurry. This prompted my dad to begin building a small speedboat. To do this he had to clear the work shed behind our house of all its accumulated junk.
He had only built a small skiff before, so this was quite a challenge for him. I can remember him spending hours working in his spare time laying out the frames to bend the plywood around as the hull of the boat began to take shape. The little speedboat had a real mahogany transom, which was shaped just right for the new outboard that would soon arrive. Considering this was dad’s first major attempt at the boat building trade, the 14-foot speedboat turned out better then he imagined it would. It even had a cabin for protection from the wind, but the seats were a bit second rate and I can remember after a year or two they split down the middle from the jarring as our bottoms bounced over the rough water.
When the boat was finally finished and ready to launch it had a sort of homemade look, but we thought it was the coolest thing going. I can remember impatiently waiting for our brand new 25 hp Evinrude kicker to arrive, and for the big day to come when we could finally fasten it on the back and see some action.
The whole family hung around waiting with bated breath as dad carefully uncrated our shiny new outboard and fastened it in place. Of course we all wanted to be the first to take a ride.
Dad said, "Come on kids get in.” And we didn’t need a second invitation as we all jumped in. Mom was more then willing to stay ashore until this new contraption was first tested, as she was always somewhat spooked by boats and the water.
Up until now, the only speedboat I had ever ridden in was an inboard and it was much larger and could not get up and plane. Well, was this ever different, what a thrilling experience when dad opened the throttle. I couldn’t believe what happened next. First he opened the throttle part way and I thought that was amazing, but then he opened it full throttle and the boat instantly jumped like a jackrabbit and skimmed the top of the waves to my wondering amazement. It seemed that we were flying. After circling around the bay a few times and cutting back and forth across his waves to see how it took them, he finally pulled into the wharf and let mom give it a try. Mom had finally gotten up her courage enough to climb in, after she realized it was not going to disintegrate, and away they went for a spin.
And so began a new era in our life on Read Island as the newest technology had finally moved into our world and we were now part of the new age in water travel. But as in all new technologies there is an inherent risk and this was just the leading edge of a drama that was waiting to happen.
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