"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
~Kenneth Graham
One of my early ideas when I created my Updated Bucket List for YEAR 77 was to repeat some of the activities I had enjoyed in the past but hadn't done for a long time. Boating and water skiing is one of those activities. Bonnie and I drove through Logan Canyon on July 19th to Bear Lake where Ted and Dixie had invited us to stay at their home for a couple of nights. Earlier I had made arrangements to rent a boat at the Marina for the following day. Ted, Quent, and Barbara joined me as we launched the boat on Thursday morning. We had been concerned about the weather because of an earlier forecast of thunder storms, but the weather was clear, the water was warm, and the lake seemed reasonably calm.
We left the marina and took the boat for a short ride toward the middle of the lake to get the feel of the power of the engine and how the boat would ride. Then it was time to see if I could get up on the water skis. I had asked Ted if he would drive the boat since he and I had done so much skiing together back in the late 50s and early 60s. My plan had been to ski first on two skis, then if everything went okay to ski again and drop one ski so I could go slalom as I had always done in the old days. After putting on the skis, I jumped in the lake and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as cold as I had thought it would be. I leaned back, put the rope between the skis, and when I had just a little slack, told Ted to "hit it."
My hope that it would work just as it had when I was 25 years old was quickly dashed! I felt like a beginner as I tried to get up and fell sideways back in the water, and felt like a loser when it happened again. The boots on the skis seemed very loose to me so I took the skis off (while in the water) tightened them (which wore me out), and tried again. This time I was up and skiing. I wish I could say it felt the same as the old days, but I clearly didn't have the strength and ability to ski like I had hoped. I skied out of the wake (i.e. not jumping the wake like before) and skied to the side, getting a little more speed as I went to the side of the boat. I moved back toward the wake, but resisted a couple of times moving over the wake to be behind the boat, but finally succeeded. Then I moved out of the wake again, and as I gained some speed out from the boat, did a successful somersault (not on purpose), landing headfirst in the water. At this point I had had enough and climbed back into the boat. I really enjoyed the time on the water (and in the water) but decided my plan to ski on one ski was probably not realistic. I felt a little bad giving up on this objective, but I could feel that my back was not wanting any more of this activity. You can copy the following URL and paste it in your browser to check out my skiing attempt:
https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=YEAR77SKI
The photos below from the left: The marina at Bear Lake State Park; me, Barbara, Quentin and Ted in our rental boat preparing to leave the marina; me ready for the first attempt; Quentin (our spotter) letting everyone within visual distance know that I had crashed.
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During our courting days, Bonnie and I spent many fun times boating at Bear Lake, and that continued for many years after we moved to California as we came back to Utah on vacation. Today, after stopping at Ted's place to pick up Dixie, I took the wheel and we went for a fun boat ride. It's really enjoyable to skim across the water (when it's smooth) and enjoy the scenery and all the other watercraft and skiers. I drove south toward the old Gus Rich's Resort where we had partied during our college days, but there was nothing left of the old place. In it's place were some beautiful new buildings, all private, and no beach in front as it was in the Gus Rich hay-days. Boating around the lake was a favorite thing to do in the old days and I really enjoyed doing it today - so many years later.
Photos from the left - 1st row: Looking at the lake in the early morning from the Wilson's lake home; the dock in front of the Wilson's home; the lake looking toward the south end.
2nd row: The first two photos are where the Gus Rich Resort used to be - now some expensive private homes; the third photo is of my new #1 boat shoes. I had a pair of tennies in the "old days" we called the #1's that accumulated such a reputation that Clonze made me promise to leave them to her in my will. I agreed, but somewhere along the line, Bonnie threw them away.
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A Little History: Dad and Mom bought a beach lot at Bear Lake when I was in high school and Dad, over a number of years, built a small cabin on the lot. As a result, our family spent a lot of time at the lake, and it became a favorite place for all of us, plus our friends, plus Dad and Mom's siblings and their families. I bought a new ski boat in 1959 (which I pulled with my $100 1940 Chevrolet) and during my college days I spent almost every weekend boating and water skiing at Bear Lake, or sometimes at Hyrum Dam. Bonnie and I did much of our courting at Bear Lake. In addition to my boat, we spent time in Ted's ski boat and on his dad's larger boat, the PATEDO (PatTed Don). Mike had a sailboat, the PUMSOB (made out of styroform with a shower curtain for a sail), but we didn't spend much time on it (and I won't say what the acronym stood for). After moving to California we spent almost every family summer vacation in Utah, much of the time at Bear Lake. Our girls, Jenny, Tracy and Heather, loved spending time at Bear Lake, and one year they turned down the option of vacationing in Hawaii in favor of Bear Lake (they may regret that now that they know a little more about Hawaii). During these vacations I loved to go water skiing and to take a boat ride around the shoreline of the lake and watch the changes taking place.
Photos below from left-1st row: Bonnie posing on our ski boat, Pat and I with our ski boat, me skiing at Hyrum Dam.
2nd row: Bonnie at the Cabin, Ted on the PATEDO, Mike and I with the PUMSOB.
3rd row: Grandpa Ron and Jenny, Grandma June with Bonnie and I and our girls, Grandma June with the girls in one of the large inner tubes they played with on the beach.
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