Small Boat, Big Heart Taking an Afternoon Off
By: Harlan Knight

On a Thursday afternoon last summer, Harlan Knight, a dentist in Florence, Alabama, suggested to his 10-year-old son Ben they should take the afternoon off and go to their 26' Cruisers yacht docked on the Tennessee River for some much-needed cleaning. Ben, an avid fisherman, was all for the idea, so father and son drove to the boat at Turtle Point yacht Club in nearby Killen, Alabama for an afternoon of catching some bream (pronounced "brim") and some scrubbing.

Ben and I had lunch at the Yacht Club and then we walked down to the boat we keep in a slip. We had been there for a couple of hours and every now and then I'd hear him yell "Look what I got!" and he'd bring the fish over and I'd take it off the hook and put it back into the water. All the time, I'm cleaning the topsides and knew my next chore was to go down below. I had the radio going and was hard at work when I could hear Ben's voice, but this time, it was different. I went above and he was yelling that he'd just seen a car go into the water.

I handed him my cell phone and said, "Call 911 and tell them you're at Turtle Point Marina" and walked him to the top of the bank where the signal would be better. While he did that, I went looking for the car.

Sure enough, a car was half-submerged in the water and I made my way down a nearby boat ramp and swam out looking for anyone that may still be strapped inside. I didn't see anyone but then I heard "Help me!" The words came from the passenger side and so I swam over there and found an elderly gentleman with about three inches of air remaining strapped into the passenger seat.

By this time, the car had actually started to drift out into open water so I knew I had only a short amount of time to get the door open and get him out before it started sinking. The door came open, with his help, and I worked to untangle him from the seat belt and pull him out of the car. I remember pushing away from the car with my feet to move us to shore as I held him, and soon I was able to touch bottom and walk him back.

His daughter showed up and I learned he was 95 years old, had been sitting in the car (a 2008 Ford) while she put a new state registration sticker on their boat. The car shifted into gear and went down an embankment near the boat ramp and into the water. We moved him into the sunshine and I got some dry clothes I kept onboard and we got him warmed up. The police and ambulance came, checked him out while the tow truck operators said the car was a total loss.

He called the next morning and told me he was doing well and was grateful for my lending a hand. He's going to be just fine.

Since then, I've thought about how I wasn't supposed to be at the boat that day and it was a time when nobody is around the marina. But Ben and I just happened to be there. I'm thankful that my son was able to see what can happen when you least expect it. We all learned that day. Oh, and I finished cleaning the boat (did it the following day) and we've since had many wonderful trips along the Tennessee River.

The last story in our popular series Small Boat Big Heart will appear in the December 2007 issue of BoatU.S. Trailering magazine. If you know of good works done with a trailer boat on the water, we'd like to tell that story to our readers. E-mail us at Trailering@boatus.com.