My friend Mike and I went out for an afternoon on the lake, a chance to talk a little and baptize some new fishing lures. We spent several hours fishing, with no luck, when we decided to head back before it got dark. After about half an hour, I heard the outboard motor sputter, then die. Mike went to check out the problem and determined that we were almost out of gas. There was a little, but it was too low to reach the fuel line. He came up with an idea. If I would stand in the middle of the boat, with one foot against both sides and rock back and forth, we might be able to get enough gas to slosh in the line to get the motor started. Once started, Mike figured if I kept rocking and he ran the engine slowly, we could get back to the ramp. Sure enough, after 15 minutes of my rocking the boat and Mike working the throttle, we returned safe and sound.

That event taught me a valuable lesson: Sometimes you have to rock the boat if you want to make any progress.