Escaping the storm

I have been meaning to write about all that we have been up to, but instead I have to start by writing about what happened yesterday. We headed out to the lake early in the morning. It was beautifully calm!

In the picture above, I thought Matt was taking a picture of me, but he was actually trying to get a shot of his brand new ski, which you can also see:)

Matt took these pictures of me skiing. They really show just how perfect the water was. It was the best day we've seen all summer!!! It was awesome. We both skied twice before taking a break, during which the wind picked up and the glassy waters dissipated.

Around one in the afternoon, a couple of friends joined us. We skied a bit more and tubed before calling it a day. We dropped them off at the State Park docks and then headed back over to the free launch to put the boat on the trailer. As we headed over towards the launch, however, the few dark clouds in the sky became a huge storm in no time. It was thunder, lightning and strong winds as we made our way to the dock. It took me a couple of tries to drive the boat on the trailer through the rough waves. Luckily a guy from shore came over to help us. Once we got our boat on solid ground, we hurried to get everything ready for the trip home as 50-60 mph winds blew us and everything else around. It was getting pretty bad!

No sooner than we had gotten ashore a jet ski pulled up. A woman was trying to back her trailer down the ramp, but clearly did not have much experience and jack-knifed the trailer with the truck several times. The guy who helped us offered to drive it for her. She was clearly relieved and said the woman with the jet ski usually drove the trailer. Five of us tried to hold the jet ski on the trailer as the waves tried to send it over the edge, but we secured it and pulled it out of the water.

The guy who helped us out of the water had also borrowed our air pump earlier in the day when he had a flat tire on his truck. Now that the flat was repaired, he backed his truck in and went to get his boat, which was "parked" on the beach. When we got to the boat we saw that the waves had flooded it, but we had to get it farther inland so it wouldn't be washed away or filled any more. The strength of six or seven adults was not enough to slide the boat through the thick clay, so one of the guys tried to pull the boat out using our tube tow rope and his F-150 truck. Even with several guys (including Matt) pushing on the boat, the truck tires just spun. Matt asked if it had four wheel drive and the guys looked at him as if to say, "of course not, can we use yours?" So Matt got the Jeep, put it in four low and the boat came right up the shore.

With one problem averted, we saw another boat coming ashore. An older man was bringing his fishing boat in, and his wife was intending on backing the trailer into the water. She was a bit nervous considering the weather, so Matt drove it for her. By that time the waves had died down a little bit and it was not as difficult to help bring in his boat.

Our little entourage, now including this fisherman as well, walked back to the water-filled fishing boat, and attempted to bail it out. As we devised a plan for this boat, we saw another one coming our way. A pontoon was towing a catamaran, which was capsized and its sails were becoming increasingly filled with water. By now it was raining, too, I think. They dropped it off near us, and the men pulled it in by rope. When they got near shore, the guys stood on one side of the pontoon and hung from a rope, trying to pull the catamaran right-side-up with the weight of their bodies. They eventually got it to flip and we worked furiously to get the sails down in the strong winds.

By this time we had some company. The local firemen, police, ambulance team, parks and wildlife officer, and channel six news had all come to get in on the action! I thought they were there to help, but strangely they just stood and watched. Not long after this, we brought in both the catamaran and the once water-filled fishing boat. The storm had died down considerably, all boats were in, and we went home for dinner.

This is what the lake looked like at the time that we left. I wish I could show you a picture of what it looked like during the storm, but we were a little occupied. It was pretty exciting!