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Greg Watkins
LETS GO BOATING!
There’s
something about boating, and being on the water that I’ve always
loved. The sun setting, the warm air, and flying along the lake with the
throttle full open. I carefully climbed my way to the front of the
28’ open bow boat and I was happy. This was a nice seat, right out in
front. I’m a dog with its head hanging outside the car window
speeding along the road! Except it’s me, and it’s a boat, and I
want more! So I climb up on the two padded bench seats and lean back on the
bow line, like Charleton Heston in Ben Hur, driving a team of horses from a
chariot! I’m smiling like an idiot. Taking it all in: Perfect
weather, desert landscape, and the river as the sun was beginning to set.
They call that time of day “The Golden Hour”. It sheds such a beautiful
and forgiving light. I’m literally filled with joy and peace.
I’m on vacation from a GREAT job on a Soap Opera, with the best story
line I’ve ever had, a beautiful wife, good friends, in this
absolutely AWESOME place. While standing there with the warm wind rushing
by my body, I was transported to a day when I was a small boy, sitting in
my Southern Baptist Church, and actually listening to the preacher. He was
a visiting speaker, which is probably why I was listening, and he said:
“Why is it that we go to God in prayer only when we are in need? When
we are in crisis? Why don’t we talk to God when things are going
well?” Why I remembered this dude’s sermon, I don’t know,
but I took it as a sign. I’ve never been happier! So, off to prayer I
went. I closed my eyes, and prayed, still grinning away, I couldn’t
help it. I was in my personal ZONE! It was at that moment that the power of
the boat was cut.
As I swam to the
surface, my head was ringing like a bell. I was thinking ‘what the
fuck man?’ AND I was mad at being jolted so violently from a prayer
that I thought was going pretty well. Hell I was praying for thanks, trying
to say “Thank you God”. You see, cutting power in a boat is
like putting on the brakes in a car, which bucked me forward. With nothing
but a slack rope to hold on to, I was sent on my way out, and over the
front of the boat. Here’s the “going into SHOCK part”. I
broke the surface of the water, and went to flip my hair back with my
hands. However, only my right arm answered the request. “That’s
odd...” I thought. It was then that I asked myself out loud,
“Whathh thaugh fuck happened?”, but when my tongue tried to
form the “TH” in “THE” it found sharp broken off
teeth. “Damit, now I’m going miss my CBS ‘Noon
News’ interview in Vegas tomorrow!” I was pissed! In fact, I
was hoping to use the Vegas trip as a “promotional appearance”
tax-write off. Funny thing was, I still made the news, just not in such a
“happy go lucky” Soap Hunk comes to Vegas sort of way. Alone in
the water, I was running out of energy and about to go under. I
didn’t know my left leg was broken, I didn’t know my left arm
was shattered, but the worst part was that I didn’t know that the
propeller’s last cut sliced cleanly through three ribs, and my left
lung just an inch from my heart. It was getting hard to breath, and I was
getting tired. Finally the boat came back, just as I was about to go under
for good, and I was led to the back stairs of the boat. The owner said,
“Can you make it up?” When I tried to lift my left hand up to
the higher rung on the ladder, it didn’t respond but the upper part
of my bone tried to lift dangling remains of my arm. He shouted,
“Don’t! Don’t do that again.” “Okay.”
They managed to lift me out of the water, and there I laid in the bottom of
that boat. Literally sliced up like deli meat. It was at this time, that
the owner realized his boat wouldn’t restart. I was truly fucked: No
radio, no cell phone, and losing blood in a boat that’s dead in the
water thirty minutes out from the dock and any kind of medical help.
What would you do?
Say a prayer?
Your story of a propeller strike can help inform.
As a victim of a propeller strike, we know retelling your story is
reliving it. This is hard. You want to put it behind you, focus on the
healing, on the future and to make the best of what you have left. We
respect that. However, you can help SPIN by telling your story. You may
just reach out with the story that prevents the next accident and saves a
future propeller victim. Your story will reach the U.S.Coast Guard and be
available to policy makers and legislators.
You may contact us in many ways:
S.P.I.N. - Stop Propeller Injuries Now
2365 Conejo Court
Los Osos, CA, 93402
tel. 805-528-0554 - fax. 805-526-8756
email: spinsafety@gmail.com
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