My antics of making silly little mistakes that are water skiing related in the early spring continue. Last year I left my wet suit and thermal shirt on the sun deck and nearly lost both of them. John and I managed to find the wet suit floating on the shoreline about 2 hours later.
On Tuesday, I was pumped to go skiing. I had just returned from a business trip and while I was on it, my buddy Dale kept messaging me about how nice the weather was back in Wisconsin, commenting about how the lake was glass calm. Needless to say, I was anxious to get on the water, so while flying back on Monday I managed to round up another skier and the game plan was set for skiing on Tuesday.
Although the morning started with glass calm water and a temp near 60, by the time we hit the lake after work, the temp was still about 60, but the wind was now about 15 MPH out of the NE. The water was no longer glass. And to top that off, the docks weren’t in the water yet. That meant I’d have to launch the boat and then swim out to it after parking the truck. Not fun in the cold water. Just as T-Bell and I are ready to head out and launch the boat, Dr. Sandy rolls up on her blades. We manage to talk her into backing the boat in and parking the truck (it wasn’t difficult) and that saved me a swim in the lake. Needless to say, this made the trip just a little bit better. So we quickly rush and put the boat in the water.
After cruising for a couple minutes to let the engine run up to temperature, we headed to the bay looking for calmer water (this requires a slow idle through a no wake zone). We then cruise around the bay, checking to see where all the crew teams were and where the UW-Ski Team was. We stop and chat with them a bit and then head back to the bridge to set up for the first run. All the while in the bay, I had noticed the boat was taking off just a bit sluggishly.
Then T-Bell chimed in… “Why is there water coming up through the floor?”
I glance down to where I keep the plug and it is sitting there and not where it should be, which is in the bottom of the boat. I turn off the engine, turn on the bilge pump, open the engine cover, and there is water up to the level of the floor. After a little twisting and turning, I manage to get the plug in and then we wait. Wait for the water to get pumped out of the boat…
A few minutes later, the water is just about gone so I grab the handle and hop into the water, ready to go. A couple quick runs later I’m ready to let Teri take her turn.
Now Teri is notorious for talking the talk about going skiing in cold weather and cold water, but on a night like tonight, with the wind thrown in, I thought she might wuss out. But she went. She takes a few runs, trying some tumbles and then calls it a night. She even commented that the water wasn’t that cold. I then take one more run until I to finally fall when we get to the rough water. Tired, and now cold, we call it a night.
And yes, back at the dock I had to jump back into the water, swim to shore to get the truck.
Here are some pics from the evening of cold weather skiing…
Nothing special, just me footing…
Nothing special, just me footing… again…
T-Bell in the Driver’s Seat
A Blurry T-Bell
One of T-Bell’s Runs
First set, T-Bell tries a tumble… didn’t quite make it all the way around.
T-Bell and Me – Dry Suits don’t do much for my figure
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Really, it wasn’t this difficult the night before. It zipped right up.
And I wonder why it felt like I had a face full of water on some of the runs?
Mad-City Wedge 