Logbook Day
72
7/24/2005
Play Day
Water Toys on the Lake
7/24/2005
Lake Washington
We arrived home from church and quickly hitched up the boat to the
truck. It's a great day to spend some time on the water. We
agreed to meet our neighbors at Luther Burbank park for an afternoons
outing.
Since we were mastless we expected a quick launch.
We were the 3rd boat in line at the Newport launch and quickly prepared
the boat. Everything seemed normal as I backed into the water.
Then, that's weird, I seem to be all the way back but the fenders
haven't gone under the surface. I could have sworn I backed in
straight but the boat is now crooked and too close to the dock.
What's going on? I walked back to the water for a better look.
Wow, the whole thing is floating, boat AND trailer. We forgot to
take off the strap. After a quick look around to see if anyone was
laughing I pulled back up the ramp. We quickly took off the strap,
backed back in and launched as normal. No one seemed to notice our
mistake.
While the launch was now done, parking was another
matter. Every slot in the large lot was full and the line on the
side of the street was long. I left the lot and turned north
toward Bellevue. Just short of going under I-90 I found an area
that looked like I would fit. After circling around in a parking
lot I drove back and pulled to the side. Parallel parking a 20'
truck with a 25' trailer turned out to be quite a challenge,
particularly since part of the area was on a grass side slope. I
finally got everything in an acceptable position that was off the road,
yet didn't block the adjacent bike path. Now for the long walk
back to the dock.
Once there we started up and backed out. It was
a quick trip north up to the park where we found our friends. We
picked up Jeff and Collin at the dock and went to play. We
alternated between the knee board and the tube. Once everyone had
had their fill we went back to the dock dropping off a few kids and
picking up Mark and Laura. A few more runs on the knee board and
we decided to just cruise the shore for a while before going back for
the kids.
Once back at the park we just hung out at the dock
while the kids swam and we ate dinner. Then it was back to the
launch for the long walk to the truck and thankfully a quick loading of
the boat and trip home. |
