ALWAYS carry a fly rod.....

scroll through my previous blogs to find "the project" and read it. if you're too lazy to do that then here is a re-cap. my sister, her boyfriend adam, and i made it our mission to turn a 22.5", radio-controlled, coast gaurd cutter into the best party boat ever. this included, but was not limited to

a. somehow making it be able to carry a martini shaker

b. putting alcohol related stickers all over it, something i highly recomend the coast gaurd does on all its boats cuz it looks good

c. ripping the legs off a WWF wrestler chick action figure, making a duct tape flipper and super glueing her to the bow of the boat, holding the american flag.

the mission overall was a success, however early testing failed miserably. before going nuts with the decorations, we decided to go to a local park and see if it even worked. for those not from saratoga, Congress Park is a nice, clean, trimmed, and even snobbish park in the center of town. It has a pond in it with a fountain and lots of ducks which are a favorite for the kids, and also protected by law. we shoved the boat off in this pond without a second thought of the dangers of the abyss below. aparently ponds have seaweed. the boat didn't make it 10 feet before seaweed/kelp/milfoil got wrapped up around the port prop. there goes steering.

the screws not only pitched in different directions, but turned in different directions depending on what buttons you pushed on the remote. there was no rudder. steering came directly from the turning of the props.

soon the boat could only go backwards in a small circle in the middle of this pond. the ducks were of no help. we asked them to give it a nudge in our direction but they just quacked mockingly as if to say, "we ain't helpin you bitch, gimme some bread!!" and went on their way. after several attepts to throw things to get the boat to start moving in our direction. Adam remembered he had a fly fishing rod in the car. he ran over, got it, and in three casts had hooked the boat and reeled it in.

the second water trial was after putting all of our decorations on it. of course, my fears came true, and the martini made the boat top heavy and it kept trying to flip. we eventualy used those foam noodles kids use when they swim to create an outrigger system. mission success!