so ill go first, this is an old one but one i wont forget, i was around 12 or 13 the year was around 1978, and the lake was rathbun lake southern part of IOWA and are boat ramp
was at the verry start of the lake.
Well we set off 5 boats in all and it was early too and headed for the dam area did some inner tubin along the way and these tubes were the big one from old earth moving trucks must of weighd around 40 lbs and you had no control what so ever so your at the mersy of the driver and then you have the occasanl lost top from the girls and shreeking 10 year old will make anyone go batty "shut the heck up your not Dolly Parten there" tie a sock around yourself hehehehe.
anyway we found a cove near the dam and some beachd and a few of us sat out doing some fishing for a lounch meal, so it hade to of been mid or spring time or maby later as we were landing crappy as fast as we cold get them off the hook
so another uncle came out and gathered up the fish and took them back to shore where they had made fire and we had this great big cast iron skillet that was probly 3 feet wide, at my age then i thought it was 10 feet wide but it was huge and filled with pure lard and im thing they used flour on the fish but i dont remember that much but theres nothen better then fresh fish right out of the pond.
this is where the action starts,
after lunch time "some one" noticed it was getting really dark out and the waves had picked up at the mouth of the cove
so we all disinbarked and headed out into the main part of the lake were we found at least 10 foot swells but the were comming at us to where we had to go, the first wave that capped and crashed over the bow landed me from the front of the boat to the back on my butt.
one of my uncles I'll call bing (well thats his name anyway) but he had this all wood cabin cruser 25 foot long the waves were so high you couldent even see it when it down between the waves, we were taking on at least 10 gal of water per wave so we had to do something and we didnt have a sump pump so we closed up the bow section with a cover but the water still came up and over the windows and we were taking on large amounts of water fast so my dad being a smart man knew he had to get to a calmer water so he got in behind bings boat (and so did the rest of the gang) and gain some speed and pull the bung hole plug and let out the water.
my uncle bing said each wave was like slamming into a brick wall and that boat was taking a beating the main thing was that NEW cvy350 not even broke in yet would it hold up or not and it was running really hot, (he had 3 big sumps to handle all the water plus he was staying over the waves)
with more then a few attemps to getting uncle bing some help i made it onto his boat, now days if i tried a jump like that id be dead before i hit the water heheheheehe
but i made it and strted dosing the enging with water and the the first wave hit and sent my flying to the bow and my uncle says oh by the way you might want to hold onto something like no **** buster good uncle you are kill me on the first day on the job here i dont know if it really helped or not but i know one thing on my few skiddings on my back to the front i could see daylight between all the boards in the bow.
but we made it back safe and sound but it felt like a year to get back
as for bings boat it wasnt sea werthy after that it even took a hit from a log i would say from the storm a 6 inch hole on the port side well above the water line almost even wth the bow hook
she was parked out in the weeds on a farm after that to busted up to be fixed so i asked my uncle bing lets do the right thing and let her go down in glory so we did as by now im a military person as well as my uncle and were in full dress we dosed the ship in gas and set her on fire with full honers of the flag the end
i do have just one more kida exciting trip from last year but ill save that one
chrish
was at the verry start of the lake.
Well we set off 5 boats in all and it was early too and headed for the dam area did some inner tubin along the way and these tubes were the big one from old earth moving trucks must of weighd around 40 lbs and you had no control what so ever so your at the mersy of the driver and then you have the occasanl lost top from the girls and shreeking 10 year old will make anyone go batty "shut the heck up your not Dolly Parten there" tie a sock around yourself hehehehe.
anyway we found a cove near the dam and some beachd and a few of us sat out doing some fishing for a lounch meal, so it hade to of been mid or spring time or maby later as we were landing crappy as fast as we cold get them off the hook
so another uncle came out and gathered up the fish and took them back to shore where they had made fire and we had this great big cast iron skillet that was probly 3 feet wide, at my age then i thought it was 10 feet wide but it was huge and filled with pure lard and im thing they used flour on the fish but i dont remember that much but theres nothen better then fresh fish right out of the pond.
this is where the action starts,
after lunch time "some one" noticed it was getting really dark out and the waves had picked up at the mouth of the cove
so we all disinbarked and headed out into the main part of the lake were we found at least 10 foot swells but the were comming at us to where we had to go, the first wave that capped and crashed over the bow landed me from the front of the boat to the back on my butt.
one of my uncles I'll call bing (well thats his name anyway) but he had this all wood cabin cruser 25 foot long the waves were so high you couldent even see it when it down between the waves, we were taking on at least 10 gal of water per wave so we had to do something and we didnt have a sump pump so we closed up the bow section with a cover but the water still came up and over the windows and we were taking on large amounts of water fast so my dad being a smart man knew he had to get to a calmer water so he got in behind bings boat (and so did the rest of the gang) and gain some speed and pull the bung hole plug and let out the water.
my uncle bing said each wave was like slamming into a brick wall and that boat was taking a beating the main thing was that NEW cvy350 not even broke in yet would it hold up or not and it was running really hot, (he had 3 big sumps to handle all the water plus he was staying over the waves)
with more then a few attemps to getting uncle bing some help i made it onto his boat, now days if i tried a jump like that id be dead before i hit the water heheheheehe
but i made it and strted dosing the enging with water and the the first wave hit and sent my flying to the bow and my uncle says oh by the way you might want to hold onto something like no **** buster good uncle you are kill me on the first day on the job here i dont know if it really helped or not but i know one thing on my few skiddings on my back to the front i could see daylight between all the boards in the bow.
but we made it back safe and sound but it felt like a year to get back
as for bings boat it wasnt sea werthy after that it even took a hit from a log i would say from the storm a 6 inch hole on the port side well above the water line almost even wth the bow hook
she was parked out in the weeds on a farm after that to busted up to be fixed so i asked my uncle bing lets do the right thing and let her go down in glory so we did as by now im a military person as well as my uncle and were in full dress we dosed the ship in gas and set her on fire with full honers of the flag the end
i do have just one more kida exciting trip from last year but ill save that one
chrish
