Good evening friends.
Tonight we take it back to 1986 and a day my friends and I will never forget. Looking back its an entertaining story. When it happened it was anything but funny.
My 5 best guys friends and I, and my girlfriend at the time all decided to blow off high school one day and go one my friends speedboat. Actually my friends dad’s speedboat. But the dad was at work. And you know what they say” while the Cats are away the Mice will play”
Now I should mention my girlfriend was a very sweet and innocent girl. She was like Sandra Dee from the Movie Grease. She was so sweet, we all her called her Sweetie. She was part of our crew and the only girl, my girl of course.
I think I told you all I grew up in Long Island, NY. So I am assuming we were boating in “The Long Island Sound” — I’m not great with geography as you all know. Now we were not just boating, we were going so fast that when wakes from other boats hit our boat we went airborne several times.
After one of the airborne incidences we saw a lot of dark smoke coming from the engine. So the son of the owner of the boat, opened the two hatches towards the back of the boat and a blaze of fire came flying out of the hatch. The fire starting slowly inching its way towards the front of the boat. We were screaming to him get the life rafts, we have to get off this boat right now. He was screaming back to us, the fire spread in front of the small cabin area where the life preservers were. So next thing you know he runs to the front of the boat where all six of us, now seven with him were literally standing at the tip of the boat which was a thin as a corner of the letter “V” — The front of the boat looked like the bottom part of the Letter “V”
Now if anyone could see us they would see the whites in our eyes. We were in the middle of the Long Island Sound, the entire boat was blazing on fire originating from the engine where all the gas was. We had no life preservers and there were no boats around. My girlfriends was shaking and so was I. Her shaking was different then mine, her’s was about that we were going to burn to death or drown to death. My shaking was because if we didn’t die her father was going to kill me. Her dad was a dentist and very involved with her daughter’s life. Her father was a really nice guy. She was an honor student and didn’t do one thing wrong in her entire life. Now she is about to die because her moron boyfriend convinces her to take a day off from school and come with him and his 5 friends for a relaxing day on one of Scott’s friend’s boat.
We were trapped at the tip of the boat, and we knew this boat was about to blow up. The flames were 20 feet high surrounding the gas tank. Next think you know, another boat passes from about 40 feet away but would not come closer because of how bad the fire was. The people on the other boat starting throwing life rafts and tubes into the water.
But the tubes and life rafts were like 30 feet away and my girlfriend and one my friends could not swim. So we kept hesitating. The people on the other boat were looking at us like “What the hell are doing, you have to get off the boat”
We still hesitated. The next think you know, the captain from the other boat picked up one of those PA speaker type things when people are talking to large crowds. And i will never forget what he yelled to us. He screamed “JUMP, THE BOAT IS GOING TO BLOW UP ANY SECOND” — With in a millisecond of him finishing that sentence, the 7 of us were in the air jumping off the boat like right out of a James Bond movie.
I told my girlfriend and the other friend to tread water, we will go get the tubes and life rafts for them. And so we did. Eventually all 7 of us were on the other boat that threw us the life rafts and screamed to jump now.
My girlfriend was shaking like a leaf and was looking at me like we probably wont be seeing each other anymore. And I was looking at her like i knew her father was going to kill me. And now my friend had to call his father to tell him we took his $100,000 boat out for a ride and its on fire like “The Towering Inferno” starring Paul Newman and Steve Maqueen.
So my friends, whats the point of this story ? The point is, if you’re going to blow off school which you should Not, don’t get on a boat speed racing through the Long Island Sound when you are 16.
In the next few days, I will tell you guys the story of when i got my first car and the trouble that caused. Then I will tell you all the story of how go into The Stern School of Business at New York University when i did so poorly in high school.
Signing off from Puerto Rico on day 205. Scott Smith for Sammy & Family.
