Cool Kid: Donnie McCune is an eight-year-old from Lakeside, Ohio, who kindly agreed to do a little impromptu IPS joystick maneuvering for us at Lakeside Marine Group’s marina where his dad works. Prior to going “live-boat,” Donnie put in a half-hour or so of dockside practice time.
“Go slow,” Brian McCune told his son.
“Yup,” Donnie replied.
Donnie’s not all that tall, at least at this stage in his life. So we had to find a step stool for him to stand on so he could see over the Sovran’s dashboard. Once he got aboard the stool, he looked pretty small up there, especially with the foredeck stretching away into seeming infinity, the wind blowing like a banshee, a giant pile of breakwater rocks astern, and a couple of IPS-500s percolating mightily below decks.
“Man,” I mumbled to myself as Donnie prepared to do the actual deal, “I hope this was a good idea.”
A good idea? Lemme tell ya: Donnie may be a little retiring on the conversational front, but when it comes to joystick boat handling, he’s The Man! In seeming seconds the little guy bopped our Sovran out of her slip, pivoted, departed the marina through the breakwater, spun around, returned to the marina, and docked us perfectly in a whooping crosswind.
“Dang, Donnie!” I exclaimed at the end of this mind-blowing performance, “when’re you getting your captain’s license?”
“Quick as I can,” he replied—-B.P.
