My wife and I took a ride Sunday afternoon out of Roberts' Cove in our 20' bowrider. There was a LOT of boat traffic all over the lake, as many of you have noted. On our return, about 1/2 mile from the entrance to Roberts' cove, I saw a PWC a couple hundred feet off our port bow make a sharp turn and take off at speed.
Seconds later I noticed a head bobbing in the water near where the PWC had been. The swimmer was hard to see at first as he had long black hair. He was also wearing a black shirt and black life vest. I was dumbfounded; why was a swimmer so far from shore?! He could easily be overrun by a boat. I motored over at idle to ask if he was OK. Turns out he'd fallen off the back of the PWC. The operator was unaware he'd lost his passenger and sped off.
We got the person on our boat, and had him stand on our engine cover for maximum visibility, hoping the PWC would return. About three minutes later we saw the PWC in the distance, going slowly and weaving back and forth as the operator searched for his passenger. Eventually I was able to get the operator's attention with a loud whistle, and he came alongside to pick up his passenger.
The result could have been much worse with so may unobservant drivers on the lake.
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