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Just go with your gut!
by
Tom Miller
For many years
now, my side of the family (the Millers), has made the trip from Lexington
to Lake Cumberland, to spend a day at the lake on Labor Day weekend. Just like the years when
Terry and I lived in Lexington, nothing could be better than leaving the
traffic, and city behind, to the winding rural roads of southern Kentucky,
where people still use all five fingers to wave, when they pass you on the road.
You can literally watch the tension melt from their faces as they walk down
the dock, board our boat, open their first ice cold one, and let out a long
aahhhh!
Our three girls grew up on the lake. They learned to ride a Sea Doo,
sometimes before they could ride a bike. We taught them the safe boating
rules early, and they were confident in their Sea Doo skills. Still, when
busy lake holiday's rolled around, we didn't let them ride that weekend. Of
course, we got the "please Dad, I'll be careful" plea, but Terry and I both
remained firm.
We had seen and heard the all to familiar sound of siren's screaming down
the hill to the lake on busy lake days, as a water patrol boat brought a
battered PWC victim to the ramp.
Nothing puts a damper on a sunny, warm weekend quicker than that.
The Lexington city folk's are quick to see the shiny, sleek Sea Doo resting
comfortably on the back deck, eagerly awaiting them. When my niece's and
nephew's were young, I didn't have to worry about them asking to ride it.
They might ask, but said so, sheepishly, as they knew there was probably no
way that would happen, and when I quickly asked if they had a PWC license,
they walked away. However, it was the parents who chimed in right about now,
in an effort to make the best of the day for their growing young sprout, "I
can take them".
Well the adults were, as I found out later, the one's you really had to
worry about.
Think about a brother-in-law who raced motorcycle's until my sister put her
foot down, and now races a Porsche, strapping a 3 person Sea Doo between his
legs with more horsepower than should be legal. Got the picture?
Two years ago, I finally caved in, and let the son of the race car driver,
who was now on his way to college, take his younger teenage cousin, (my
niece), and a friend out on the Sea Doo during the big weekend. Why I did
it, I'll never know. I knew it didn't sound like the best idea, but I had
deprived these young kids all these years, and the guilt was beginning to
overtake me.
So they waved, to all the smiling parents as they passed by the houseboat,
and headed out to put the no wake zone in their, well, "wake".
Time slowed down for me, as everyone laughed, and talked, and sunbathed from
the top deck of our houseboat.
After about 30 minutes, I realized I wasn't the only one having a panic
attack. Terry came up to me and said, are you worried about the kids? I
said, Heck yea, I'm worried, and they've been out way too long. Time
crawled, as they say, to a snail's pace, and we were now passing the one
hour mark. We couldn't help but let our concerns leak out, and spill over to
the crowd of Miller's enjoying the day. Just when we were about to fire up
the pontoon boat and go searching, here comes the unaware teenager's
rounding the corner at the end of our dock.
Terry and I breathed a huge sigh of relief, as the parents were quick to
point out, "see I knew they'd be OK. Before the day was out, the younger
girls couldn't help but let the "cat out of the bag", about the Sea Doo
exploits of their cousin, (you know the son of the race car driver).
So this year, I have already been contemplating how I would get around this
again. After all, the Sea Doo is sitting in the same place on the back deck
of our houseboat, as it has in past years. Ahh, but I'll leave the cover on,
and it won't look so tempting. But then I realize, I have nephew's who are
all to eager to volunteer and say, "I'll take the cover off".
Maybe I can misplace the key. There's always the, "sorry it's out of gas".
But once again, the eager nephew says, "that's no problem, I'll take it to
get gas". Maybe I could hide it in a dock neighbor's slip for the day, and
tell my family, it's in the shop for maintenance.
None of those sound fool proof, so I have decided to "go with my gut", and
stick with the practice I raised my daughter's on. If you think the lake is
over crowded with a range of slightly to mildly intoxicated boater's,
and they are all trying show off their boat, and go no where fast, then
you're probably right.
Maybe you should jump off the roof of the houseboat, go down the slide, and
float your care's away for the day. Did I mention the life jacket? I'm just
saying!
Note:
This story was inspired by the Sept./Oct/ 2011 edition of
Houseboat
Magazine
and a column on pg. 8, "At the Helm", by Editor Brady Kay.
Brady talks about lawsuits and PWC's.
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