The day everyone had been waiting for had finally come! The boat race! Plus, no school today!
The Martinelles woke up and were soon on their way to the dock. They helped the Aloises set up the boats, and soon enough everybody else showed up. They were enjoying themselves, when Mr. Aloise said, “May I have your attention, please?”
Everybody paid attention at once.
“It is now nine o’clock, and we are going to organize teams!” announced Mr. Aloise excitedly.
The kids that were nine years old or older were put with other teammates close to their age. Emily was on a team with Anna Bellins, Hailey Garfield, and Ellie White.
Once everybody was chosen, Mr. Aloise, Mr. Martinelle, Mr. Garfield, Mr. Bellins, and Mr. White were going to teach everybody else how to drive the boats. Emily and her teammates got in line in Mr. Martinelle’s line. James and his teammates (Tom Aloise, Henry Rosebud, and Nick Mason) were in Mr. Garfield’s line.
Nick was wearing a cap, of course, as always, which caused him much trouble today, as one could suspect with windy boat-racing days.
“Hey, Emily! Who do you think is going to get there first, your team or my team?” shouted James to her over the noise.
“Our team, of course!” said Hailey.
“Oh, now, are you sure?” teased Tom.
“Yes, we are sure! We pay attention! We know you boys, though, you will look at something and want to go to it, and forget all about the race until it is too late, and we will win!” said Anna.
“That is not true!” protested Henry.
“Well, we shall see.” said Ellie as the people in front of them left, and they walked up to Dad.
Soon, everybody was taught how to drive the boat, and soon, Mr. Aloise once again announced over the speakers, “We are now going to tell you the route you should be taking! The same people who taught you to steer the boat are going to hand you a map and explain it to you.”
Emily’s dad came by and explained the map to them as follows:
“This line that says ‘Start Here’ is where we will start you off. These black lines are the path you will be taking. Those yellow signs tell you that you are on the right track. This red thing is a tunnel that you are supposed to go through, and these circles are buoys. These curves represent waves harder than the anywhere else you will go. When you see this sign with an arrow on it, go the direction it is pointing, and keep on going until you end up at the dock. If you are the first to get to the dock, you win! First, second, and third winners get prizes! Have a great time!” Dad explained, and with that he left to give someone else a map.
“I’m glad they laminated the map; it would have probably gotten wet!” said Hailey.
Then there was a voice over the speakers, “Get your supplies and get in the boats!” so that’s what they did.
With Mr. Martinelles’ help, Emily’s team found their boat and went through a list of things they had to have with them. Emily’s dad also gave them a flag for their boat. They were boat number 25.
“Alright, you are ready to go. Do not start racing until Mr. Aloise blows the horn. Contact us on your radio if you are to tired to go on. Have fun!” said Dad.
“Get your boats floating in the water!” shouted Mr. Aloise, who was very excited.
Hailey pushed her team’s boat in, and managed to get back in before it got away from her.
However, boat 33, James and his teammates, were having a rather hard time of it. First, Tom did it, but he pushed the boat too hard, and he didn’t get in on time! Of course, he got all wet, and when he jumped in the boat, he accidently landed on Henry’s camera, both smashing it to bits and waterlogging it!
“Tom, how could you do this to me?! I was going to bring my camera so I could take pictures, but instead it got smashed!” scolded Henry.
“What’s all the commotion for?” asked Mr. Aloise.
“Tom jumped in the boat and smashed my camera to bits! How am I ever going to take pictures with no camera?” said Henry.
Tom offered to take pictures and send them to him.
When Henry looked up, he was further from land then he should’ve been. The others, however, did not notice anything, but the rope had untied…
“MR. ALOISE! HELP! OUR ROPE IS UNTIED! WE’RE FLOATING AWAY!” shouted Henry.
Then all of the boys saw, and they jumped up and started screaming for help, but James didn’t see the wall of the boat, and tripped over it, dunking the boat and the others!
So Mr. Aloise came in his motorboat and put all of the boys in the boat, and righted the boat before it sank, and brought them back to shore.
All of the boys tried to do the job, but failed because James slipped into the water and Nick’s hat fell off. Henry was the one who succeeded.
“Yay! Henry is the one we trust because he is honest and doesn’t get into scrapes!” said Nick.
“Yeah, and we never trust Tom!” said Henry, who was still a bit troubled about his camera.
Eventually they all calmed down, and then!
“On your marks, get set…”
Emily and Hailey had hold of the oars, and Anna and Ellie were supposed to be watching for “boat busters” as everyone called them.
Then the horn that everybody wanted to hear was blown…