Eighty-five degrees, floating on sunny Seneca Lake, is so peaceful.
That is until you hear your brother-in-law yell, “FIRE! There’s smoke coming out of that boat over there. Everybody OUT OF THE WATER.”
And that’s when the transformation began.
Our crew jumped back on the boat. We secured our floats and ropes and moved carefully towards the smoking boat, noting two women in the water managing three kids under the age of 4 (all appropriately wearing lifejackets but still a struggle). There were two men on the boat still amidst the smoke. Driving without being able to see under the front of our boat, our captain trusted our verbal cues to move towards the women and when to stop.
In a line, our crew directed and welcomed the women and kids onto our boat with towels, snacks, and a shady spot to sit and wait for the Coast Guard with us from a safe distance. The marina owner picked the men up off the smoking boat and joined us. Soon, the marina’s pontoon came out to get the family, and the Coast Guard towed the boat back to the marina.
Everyone was appreciative – and calm. Until the very last minute, when Dylan (the 3-year-old boy) had to leave our boat to go onto the other pontoon boat. He refused to leave and began to wail, “I’m so scared!” He finally let it all out at the safest point in this situation.
I have some in-depth observations, but transforming from our group of siblings/might-as-well-be-siblings relaxing to Yacht Rock Radio, a snacklebox and some beverages on a sunny day to a finely tuned rescue crew in less than 60 seconds was pure magic. It was never rehearsed, discussed, or even thought about.
Maybe it’s not always about the practice, policies, and procedures. Maybe it’s about trust – in each other and ourselves. I certainly think it was that day.
Check back for my next blog for more details about this story and how our party (literally in so many ways) turned into a high-performing team in seconds.
PS…
We are an academic, an engineer, a therapist, a consultant, a cicerone, two insurance executives, and an administrator. But I’m still going to highlight the Snacklebox. That was genius!
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