We did a hat overboard

Last year when we were taking my boat, the Huck Finn, to dry dock, it became a thing. There was way more crew than I had anticipated, but, to tell truth, I was glad they were along. 

The Crew:

Larry: He drives the Colonial Belle.

Jolene: Senior deckhand on the Colonial Belle.

John: Houseboat owner, a good egg all-around.

Dre: Me.

So what happened, halfway to Midlakes, John’s hat blew off and ended up in the water. I think Jolene was driving.

We had a hat overboard.

Jolene threw it into reverse. We came to a full stop. Larry was shouting directions to me, and we came about in shallow water. I left the helm for a brief moment to indicate where the fish net could be found. I went to slow ahead using the engines as steering.

Larry said “go to port!” “Go to starboard!”

We recovered the hat. 

It was impressive to me because Larry, Jolene and myself had trained for just such an occurrence. We turned out to be good at our jobs. 

Then we went ahead and brought the boat to Midlakes. It was the best end-of-season cruise, ever.