June 15, 2008 -- Father's Day

The winds were strong today, 15+mph out of the WNW, churning up the water with large waves and whitecaps. The sky was overcast and grey, and the temperature was only 56 degrees.

After a morning cup of coffee and a light breakfast, Kathleen and I decided to go sit on the benches at the end of the dock (see picture below; not taken today obviously). It was exhilerating sitting there with the wind blowing straight into our faces.

At some point, Kathleen looked to our left -- south from our dock -- and asked what that was that had blown onto shore. I looked carefully and recognized it as the Giza's boat lift.

Let me back up for a moment. A few days earlier we had some very bad storms, complete with strong winds and hail (see June 11, 2008 post). The waves on the lake were so big that they lifted the Giza's boat up and off the boat lift and blew it onto the rocks on shore. As it turns out, one of the Giza's sons had come up for a visit that day and discovered the boat being bandied about on the rocks.

With my help, Giza's son was as to get the boat off the rocks and out into the very rough water. It was too difficult to get the boat back onto his boat lift, so we decided to pull the boat into my harbor and onto the empty boat lift there (my boat is on the lift at the cabin).

The next day, Marv Giza and his son took the boat off my harbor lift, and using the boat ramp at my cabin, took his boat out of the water to assess the damage. Their boat was severely damaged, suffering several holes punched into the hull. With the boat securely trailered, Marv took the boat home where he would contact Lund about how to handle repairs.

This meant Marv's boat was no longer on the Giza's boat lift. Any one with any experience with boats and boat lifts will tell you if you don't have the boat sitting on the lift for an extended period of time, you better remove the boat lift canopy. Why? Without the weight of the boat holding the lift in place any strong wind will lift the boat lift right out of the water and blow it where ever the winds take it.

In Marv's haste to get his boat home to repair the damages, it slipped his mind to remove the boat lift canopy and now the winds had blown it to the same exact place where his boat had washed to shore a few days earlier.

I got some extra heavy rope out of the garage and set about securing the Giza's boat lift to some trees on shore in an attempt to minimize any further damage to the lift. I then had the unfortunate task of calling Marv at home to tell him that in addition to his damaged boat he now had to contend with a damaged boat lift.

We discussed options about how to get his boat lift off the rocks and back in place next to his dock. I suggested Marv call Mark at Shore Brothers in Bemidji -- the outfit that puts in and takes out my boat lift and docks. Mark has a pontoon raft equiped with a fork lift that would enable him to get Marv's boat lift off the rocks and back in place. Marv did call Shore Brothers, and within a day or two, Mark had Marv's boat lift standing next to the dock -- minus the canopy this time.

Quite an eventful Father's Day.

Our dock and harbor, looking west.