Stormy Weekend

Another weekend at the lake. I hesitated before going up on Saturday; did a lot of cleaning around the house first. Then I realized that my attitude always changes once I get moving. I put the clear shift at about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way there. I stop looking backward toward things that I should be doing back here and start looking forward to a completely different mindset.

It was storming when I got there, so I sat in the car reading until it passed. No sense in getting soaked for no reason, although that changed a little later, as I will relate shortly. It was well after six, so I figured it was too late to sailing. I had some dinner, though, and a little after eight, put the dinghy into the water for a row upriver. I rowed up to a railroad bridge over the river just where there is a sharp bend in the river. I took some pictures, watched a train cross the bridge, and rowed back down to the marina. I'll have to check the chart to see how far that is.

When I crossed the river back to the marina, I rowed up to our finger pier. The folks on the boat on the other side of the pier made some jokes as I brought into position. I was climbing over the bow onto the finger pier, just a second or two from standing on the dock, when I suddenly found myself in the water. Apparently the dinghy is a bit tippy. The folks on the other boat said that I just vanished from sight. The dinghy flipped. We retrieved it and everything I had in the boat (my glasses and shoes stayed on, too), except my digital camera. It's waterproof, but now down about six feet near the dock.

I thought about diving down to try to retrieve it, but the water is so cloudy that I couldn't actually see anything, and the idea of feeling around with my hands just made me think that I have no idea what might be down there. Fortunately, the folks in the other boat have a relative who is a diver. He might be able to come up by next weekend and see if he can find it. There's at least a possiblity of getting it back in working order.

On the other hand, how humiliatin'!

Next time, I will try to go on and off the dinghy from the stern only. Hope that works better. I did enjoy the row. It was a lot easier than the rowing machine at home, I was able to go much farther than the first time, without the aches and blisters of before. Seems I am getting into some sort of condition again.

On Sunday, I was pretty lazy in the morning, although I did do some repairs that I wanted to work on. Should have sailed early on, however, because by early afternoon there were thunderstorm watches and warnings all around the area. I stowed everything away and headed home.