Personal Narrative On The Beach

Friday. 7th Period. Sunny. It was a picture perfect day. The final bell rings and I race to my car to leave school. I drive to Holiday Marina on Lake Lanier, with a big smile on my face because I am taking our houseboat out to an island. I get there, unpack my bag, throw a few items in the fridge, and pull out of the slip. The ride out to the island was incredible, as always. I pull up on the sandy beach on the island, tie ropes to both sides of the houseboat, to a tree, to insure that the boat will stay in the exact same position, just in case a summer storm blows in with strong winds. As the night continues, I am really nervous about my Eagle Board meeting in the morning. I go to bed early to get a good night’s sleep, so that I am ready

The rain was so strong that it sounded like golf balls hitting the roof and the wind felt like I was in the middle of a tornado. I run out to the front deck and I see the TV flashing almost as if I was in a scary movie. I then run to the back to tell my parents that the TV was toast and that the rain ruined it. At that instant, I noticed the shore and trees from the back door. I shook my parents awake and yelled to them, “WE ARE SIDEWAYS ON THE BEACH.” They jumped out of bed, and we all ran to the front to get on the beach and examine the situation. I stand there in total confusion asking myself, “Is this a

We go outside to attach another rope, and we see the rope I had previously thought was broken, was perfectly intact. We walk up to the tree - that the rope was tied to - find out that the knot, that I had tied, had come undone. I felt like I could die right then and there. With my fourteen years of boating experience, this has never happened before. We add a secondary rope to both sides, and we go to the deck-boat to check out the damage. Thankfully, nothing was broken besides the stereo that had gotten soaked from the rainwater. We go to bed and my dad tells me, “Do not worry about it’” and “Remember you have your Eagle Board in the morning.” At that moment it was 3:21 A.M.; I had to get up in three hours to get ready.

The morning comes and I pass my Eagle Board, which I had worked on for so many years. We head back to the boat and my Dad decides we need a family meeting. He feels like we got a little lax and had to always be prepared for summer storms to pop up. From now on when we go the island, you can bet we will put two ropes on each side. We were very lucky we did not end up with any damage to either of our boats. This strange event made me think realize that even prepared Eagle Scouts and experienced boaters can have a failure every once and a while. We learned a valuable