Dear Reader,
Embarrassing situations make great story ideas for your entry in this year's Write a DearReader Contest. You don't have to be a writer to enter, in fact I started the contest 16 years ago hoping that anyone with a story would enter. To find out more about cash prizes, deadlines and to read last year's winning entries, click here.
What's the card my husband and I never leave home without?
Sea Tow.
Sea Tow is a "road assistance" type card for boaters. You pay them $179 a year and if your boat breaks down or if you run out of gas, you call them and they'll come to your assistance--no charge.
Well they had to come to our assistance so many times one year, that I thought we would be the first customers to be refused a renewal membership. At the least, I thought they'd put a stipulation in our agreement that we had to give them advance warning of when we were going boating, so they could have a rescue vessel standing by in the area.
Our problems started right away when we bought a used boat. The guy who sold it to us failed to mention the gas gauge didn't work. First time out, when I noticed the gas gauge was staying at the half-full mark for a long time, I voiced my concerns to my husband and son. But instead of making sure the gauge was working, they just started bragging about the great gas mileage the boat was getting. Minutes later, we started hearing the sputtering sound of an engine desperately trying to suck up its last few drops of life from the gas tank. That was our first call to Sea Tow.
We got the gas tank gauge fixed, along with several other repairs, so you'd think it would be safe to set sail. But on our next five boating attempts, we had to call Sea Tow each and every time. It was very embarrassing. No one wanted to be the one to make the call.
But I'm happy to report things are looking up. We've gone out in the boat for a few months now, and we haven't had to make one call to Sea Tow. I'm feeling more confident so I've been thinking about taking Sea Tow off speed dial...but on second thought...
(I wrote this column a years ago. Since then my husband bought another boat, with so many problems, it only made it into the water one time. And yes, we would have had to call Sea Tow, if we hadn't been so close to the marina. My husband has finally given up boating--thank heavens. One of these days I'll share another story with you, about when the coast guard had to rescue us. In the meantime, my husband is concentrating on playing the bass guitar.)
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Start writing. I'm looking forward to reading your entry.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
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