Adrift

We have had our ups and downs with our sailboat. Let’s be honest. But we thought we had survived winter with just a few hitches until a few weeks ago when my dad called. His message:

“Sis! Call me! It’s about your boat! She’s adrift in the lake! She’s adrift!”

My dad, who never deviates from the boats-are-always-female rule, received word from the boat’s former owner who had received word from the King County Sheriff that our boat was having some issues that we needed to attend to sooner rather than later.

Immediately unpleasant images of the boat ran through our heads. The boat crashing into a bridge, or Bill Gates’ dock, or Bill Gates’ yacht. The boat upside down in the middle of Lake Washington. The boat splintered and slowly sinking.

It turned out, as if often does, that my dad’s report was a bit of a stretch. The truth was that she came loose from her anchor after a nasty wind storm, the water in the lake went down, and she was beached.

The captain and skipper (Dave and me) tried to push, shove, kick, and coax the boat back into the water. She wouldn’t budge, even after the captain bailed bucket after bucket of rain water, and, okay, maybe a little lake water, out of the cabin. We later learned it would take the strength of four guys hired from the Home Depot parking lot and $150 to move her.

Very long story, very short-the sassy is on land now and will be registered very soon so the Sheriff and Bruce can breathe a little easier. We look forward to a summer of sailing and repairs.

At least the kids always have fun at the beach.