"Ain't she Yare!"

Just about 10 days to go until Brent takes his Boards. Then the summer really begins. He finally decided he needed to crack down and spend most of his days studying. He usually hangs out in his study shack (a long dark hallway behind our bedroom wall.) But with a sailboat just waiting out his front door. . . he gets antsy and tired of family interruptions, and often comes running down telling me he's heading out with his sail boat to anchor in the Niagara River and study away.

Just about then we hear a crack of thunder, dark clouds roll over and he realizes he is stuck here. That is how the weather has been for the last week. He has only managed to take the boat out twice.

We live in an extremely convenient location for taking the boat out. We have two marina's on each side of us. It was only matter of time really and we just had to get a boat living where we do.

The first sailing adventure was one week ago after school. Camille volunteered to go with him for the trial run sailing. He needed a first mate and he didn't want one with a small baby tagging along for this first time. It took them about an hour to set up the mast and sails and get in the water. We rode down on our bikes and I could see them out in the water, Brent scrambling all over the place. Camille in her swimsuit started complaining about when she was going to go swimming. There hadn't been much wind anyway for sailing so he anchored next to a small island and they both jumped out.

On both sides of this little piece of land called Strawberry Island, the Niagara River rushes by, about 10 miles above the falls. If you stay on the upper side of the island there isn't a current and you can swim. Just about then I was watching the news and heard about a weather advisory for our county. I called Brent on his cel phone and let him know. He got Camille back in the boat right away but then found after pushing off he was going to have to do the pull up of his life to get up in the boat. So here is Camille ready to float off down the Niagara and Brent holding onto the side straining like crazy, (and realizing a boat ladder is just one more thing we need to buy for the boat!)

He makes it in by sure grit. The dark clouds are rolling in and they start motoring back to the marina about 5:30. Now the wind has come up like crazy and I haven't heard anything from them since I called with my warning. I head off down the street to take a look and the wind about blows me over.

Ten minutes of wild winds and then a huge torrential downpour starts in. Luckily I get a call just as it is starting from Brent. They just barely made it in and now they are down in the cabin of the boat waiting out the rain. Another family that was also out at the island after he left is later brought in by the Coast Gaurd. Good thing I was watching the news. The weather changes so suddenly here.

Anyway that is how it has been all week. We get a storm or at least a big rainfall everyday. It has been great for my vegetable plants, but horrible for sailing.

We risked it again on Monday for Family Home Evening. First we stopped at the marina and made a few purchases: a ladder, adult life jackets and FLARES! Then we watched the clouds roll in AGAIN! We had just got the mast all rigged up but decided with so many dark clouds we better wait. So we walked down and had dinner at the nearest McDonald's and Brent hoped for some perfect weather. By this time a couple hours had gone by and I was ready to go home. But I didn't say anything. When we returned we sat and debated for another 20 minutes. A couple drunk fisherman came over and laughed at the sailor and all his children. They assured Brent that this storm was going to blow over us and we should go for it. Brent agreed with the drunks and off we went into the water about 6:45 p.m. with dark clouds raging all around. (Later we heard that much of the area just 10 min away got golf ball size hail during this time period.) We just barely got out in the water and it started to pour on us. No big deal, the sailor told us since we have a cabin aboard.
We all hunkered down and I thought about how bad this cabin and future sleeping quarters needed to be cleaned. As soon as the sun came out, the wind died. So Much for Sailing. Instead we stopped again at Strawberry Island. Everyone was scared to get out into a freezing river. It became a necessity however when the sailor accidentally got our rope wrapped around the motor. He made some joke about maybe we won't be able to motor back after all. And if we can't sail I guess we camp here for the night. After a few minutes of coaxing we got Savannah into the water and she untangled the motor. By then she was enjoying the water so we threw all the girls in and they swam over to the sandy shore. But no sooner did we get them all in and we heard thunder booms and we were yelling for them to all get back in the boat.
I won't tell you the rest of the motoring back and taking down the mast story. Just know that it is only a mile but it was almost 9 by the time the mast was down again and we were all back in the car soaked with rain.

So how do I feel about the sail boat now? I was amazed by Brent and his attitude about all the work it takes to sail, especially with a family. It takes a 1/2 hour to take the mast down and we didn't even have the sails attached. I know now that I am completely naive about sailing (even though we never got to sail) and my husband has a different sense of fun than I do. Not that I didn't enjoy our little trip, but if I had been in charge of all the decisions, work, and disasters, I seriously would have had a breakdown. I am really good about those. But when I am with this sailor I always just let him worry about the problems and feel completely safe. I have learned from experience that with him we always sail safely through. Even with out a sail or a motor and above the Great Niagara Falls, he will bring us home.

The two pictures above are:
Caroline swimming safely in her life jacket staying far away from the rushing current.

Camille and Savannah towing us back in so we don't float away from the island in the current. I'm glad I didn't wear my suit or I would've been out there doing all these jobs.