[codeman671]

Yesterday was absolutely horrible on the lake. As Pine Island Guy mentioned on another thread it was probably the worst day I have ever seen on the water as well. We had no right being out there, that's for certain.

The ride out of Glendale to Mark was rough to say the least. We borrowed Steve-on-mark's twin tube pontoon to head out to the island to clean the place out. I had 2 hired hands from craigslist to help me move stuff. These poor guys were not boaters and were hardly dressed for it, and had no idea what they were getting into. We bounced and bobbed our way across at a very slow pace, taking the waves almost head on, getting wet with every hit. Once in behind Timber things chilled out for a bit, then back into the crap between Timber and Mark.

We spent a few hours loading up and moving furniture. It was so bad coming out that we decided to cram everything into one very loaded trip so not to go back out for a second round of abuse. We headed back out, down the NWZ between Mark and Mink. As soon as we rounded the tip of Mark by Goodhue's and started towards Timber we started taking huge waves broadside. It was so bad that I thought we were going to flip sideways, I was leaning over the edge of the boat from the drivers seat like an outrigger trying to keep it from rolling. We managed to get across to Timber and ran the shoreline down to the other end near the Witches. I thought about tying up and waiting it out but am glad I didn't as it got even worse after we got back.

We (I) finally got up enough guts to make the run (crawl) for it. We took aim for Lockes and started out. We had to keep it to only a few mph to try to pace with the waves as I was afraid of burying the nose, which would have ended our trip in a cold way. We were getting hit from both sides and the rear from cross waves and were tossed all over the place. On a number of hits I thought we were going over. We took a few hits in the bow as we rolled over waves and into the trough. This put a healthy wave of water right up the deck soaking the feet of the poor guys clinging for dear life. With some time, patience and a few changes of underwear I made it to Lockes and in to Glendale.

I think that the boat being so loaded up actually helped us as without that much weight we would have been tossed worse. I have been out in some hairy stuff but that was just nuts. Had we been out in a regular hulled boat we would have gotten bounced around but been fine. It was the fact that it was a pontoon that made it as sketchy and dangerous as it was. Never again!

One more trip out and a week or two and that will close out my season as well as time being an islander.