Wild Rides, Anyone?

I don't know about you, but it would be understatement to say that I have a fear of heights. You know; the kind where your legs seem to turn to Jello and your breathing gets a little faster. That sick feeling you get when you envision yourself falling headfirst from an airplane, or dropping twenty stories without a safety net sort of fear. It's called "acrophobia," and it's a very common feeling amongst other people I've met in my life.

On the flip side though, is my love for roller coasters; all kinds. The ones that turn you upside down, around and around, drop you a hundred feet straight down; it doesn't matter. Buy me a ticket!

How to explain it? Why even try? It's an adrenaline rush that flies in the face of my acrophobia. That's enough for me! It all started when I was a teenager. My older cousins goaded me into getting on the roller coaster at Salisbury Beach, in Massachusetts. Fearing for my life and taking the plunge, I instantly discovered a new love after the first ride. I have yet to meet a coaster I didn't like.

Fear, like so many other emotions we encounter, is a funny animal. If you face it and charge blindly into the light, the chances are high that you'll come out on the other side with the satisfying smile of a winner, and we can all use a little of that every chance we get.

Everyone has had experiences in their life that they remember as "moments of change;" those things we do that later define us. I'm a fisherman, or angler, if you will. Earlier in my life, before I owned boats of my own, I was quite wary of the ocean blue; you know, that very deep body of water that surrounds us. Growing up in a part of the country where legendary shipwrecks had occurred, and where swimmers and fishermen had been swept out to sea by their own carelessness, I had a very deep respect for the ocean.

In the summer of 1968 a friend invited me to go striper fishing on Cape Cod, at the National Seashores there. Anxious to catch a big striped bass, I made the trip. On our first morning we launched his sixteen-foot aluminum boat from the beach directly into the waves. It was, at that time, a very harrowing experience.

We fished for most of the day, until we decided it was time to head in. Here's an excerpt from my newest book, Fish Tails - Bones Not Included, about what happened next. It was definitely a "defining" moment for me!



          The tide had changed, and the waves crashing on the beach were much bigger than when we launched that morning. I was about to ask Bob how he was going to handle this when he screamed over the motor noise “Hold on to your seat! We’re going in and it’s not going to be easy!”

His words rang in my ears. I looked towards the beach; it was coming up very fast. Bob increased the motor’s speed and flew hell-bent towards it with a completely wild look on his face. I knew then that this was going to be what I really remembered about the day, because the launch this morning seemed like a cakewalk compared to what was coming.

We seemed to be going faster; Bob had the boat up on the crest of a wave, and we were actually surfing with a 16-foot aluminum boat! It was scaring the hell out of me, but I didn’t have a lot of time to do much more than hold on for dear life; the beachhead was in my face. The wave started its break and thrust the tiny boat at the beach like a leaf on the wind; and then we hit!

I remember thinking that every tooth in my head seemed to explode, and my entire body screamed at me. I realized that we had stopped, very abruptly, but we were now sitting up on the high-water mark, and we were both still alive. I couldn’t believe it! Bob told me later that I was screaming my ass off, and I still don’t remember if that’s true or not; it’s not that far-fetched to be looked upon as a fabrication. I probably was!

There was a crowd of our fellow campers standing together on the beach, and as I somehow managed to crawl out of the boat, a cheer went up from all of them. I was a rookie, and I had just made my first “crash landing,” a feat that had them all yelling and clapping. My initiation complete, I was being welcomed into the ranks of the wild-eyed, crazy anglers of Truro, Massachusetts.

Fish Tails - Bones Not Included is an anthology of humorous fishing and boating adventures I've enjoyed over the years. There's a story for everyone in there someplace, and I'm quite certain you'll crack a few smiles before you finish it. If you'd like to read more, the book is available as an eBook on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and iTunes.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Mark