Tidelines – July 18, 2013
There are any number of things we shouldn’t say out loud. For instance, when asked, I never reply that my wife’s butt looks kind of big in that outfit.
And if you’re a 14-year-old kid headed offshore (for the first time) on a head boat (first time on a head boat, too) with a forecast of 25 mph winds and increasing seas, then another thing you shouldn’t say out loud is, “I never get seasick. Me getting seasick is impossible. I don’t ever get seasick.”
J.J. (my brother-in-law) and I took a break from busy schedules last week to spend a day on the head boat “Vonda Kay” out of Wrightsville Beach. Thursday was the only full day trip that we both had free, but Thursday also had a forecast of stronger seas and wind than we wanted. Desperate to bring up some bottomfish, though, we hopped on and hoped it wouldn’t be that bad offshore.
The day (seas and wind) turned out to be better than Capt. Dave Gardner expected, but everyone had their doubts pulling away from Masonboro Inlet where the inlet had the waves stacked up and an isolated rainstorm pushed everyone in the cabin—everyone had their doubts except 14-year-old Aaron.
Aaron had that contagious enthusiasm of youth. Where at least some of us were wondering if the day was going to be worth the beating, Aaron couldn’t have been more excited to be on that boat headed out for a day of fishing.
We didn’t know each other, but we struck up a quick conversation (like you do on head boats or on a pier) where Aaron told me that he had recently been fishing for spanish mackerel out of an 18’ center console along the beach in rough seas. He held his hand almost straight up and down to show me the kind of big waves they had endured on their way to boating a number of 6+ lb. citation spanish.
This was the story he shared in the doorway to the cabin before announcing that he never gets seasick. Even better, as quoted earlier in the article, “Me getting seasick is impossible. I don’t ever get seasick.”
I certainly wasn’t rooting against him at that point, but I did take a moment to suggest that maybe it’s better to think it then to say it. He was unchecked an answered, “It doesn’t matter if I say it out loud or not. I never get seasick.”
Everyone reading this Tidelines knows where this story is going. Of course Aaron got sick.
It happened about half way through the 25-ish mile run out to gag grouper land. Aaron had stopped making small talk for about the last five or so miles before he looked up with concern in his eyes and admitted (out loud) that he wasn’t feeling well. He followed Dave’s dockside instructions perfectly and got sick over the side of the boat (no getting sick in the head).
The bravado was now gone as Aaron sheepishly asked, “Am I going to feel like this all day?”
I told Aaron that I was going to write about him in Tidelines, and I also told him that it wouldn’t be an article that just lambasted him about getting seasick. Though the article would certainly start by making fun of him, it would end by paying him compliments, because Aaron bounced back well that day.
Over the course of the day he got sick at least one more time, but he fished hard at every stop—he never retired to the cabin to lie down., and he never lost his good humor or enthusiasm, getting excited with every sea bass and pinky and hoping to the last drop that a grouper would freight train his bait.
Yes, Aaron learned a lesson. He recognized that saying that it was impossible for him to get seasick wasn’t a great decision, but he also didn’t put a lot of importance on “the lesson.” He knows he’s young, and he knows that kids his age make mistakes. It was no big deal to him, and I like that.
Now, as for his story about catching a boat load of 6+ lb. spanish mackerel in 8’ seas fishing out of an 18’ center console? I think another life lesson is in order for the 14-year-old.
