Ski Dude
Club Member
Hero Member
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Posts: 542
Old man's body and a hot rod heart!
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« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2010, 10:10:46 AM » |
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Liza, sorry you could not make a "last ride." It was a slow start. Haven't ridden with Dave Collin for over a year as he has been focusing on getting his house built. He awoke to a dead battery in his ski, but quickly found another one. Howard, his wife Dana, and her sister Ana who is visiting from Romania met me at the house just after 10 AM. We walked the ladies down to the beach a couple of blocks away where I had already set up chairs and umbrellas. Ran into some boating Bozos at the ramp trying to load their boat without backing the truck wheels into the water. It was a very high tide, almost 3 feet above mean sea level, and you could not get the trailer to the slope of the ramp without the wheels getting in the water. Eventually they gave up and took the boat to another location. By the time Howard & I were unloaded, Dave showed up and we were under way just after 11. We rode around the north tip of Anna Maria and checked out the little sand bar just west of Bean Point at the NW tip. It still had a small narrow strip above water. The Gulf side was rough with a 2-3' chop. We rode down to the beach and picked up the ladies and headed back to the sand bar. Strong currents! After hanging there for a while, we went on a search mission for Emerson Park at the north side of the mouth of the Manatee River. Easy to find. Then a short trip up the Manatee to the Bridge. After that it was time for lunch and we rode back to the Gulf side and the Sand Bar restaurant, where Howard's Mom, Judy, met us. Dave called it a day on the way back and headed back to the 63rd street ramp via the cut through the island.
A really odd thing happened. My fluke anchor broke... WTF! The U-shaped bar sticking out that has the chain attached broke loose from the body of the anchor. Both welds broke! Thank you China. Luckily, we met a wonderful boater who just arrived to eat and let us tie off to his boat. Judy took the ladies back to the beach by car about 1 mile south, and H-man and me looked for some smooth water. We headed back around the north end of Anna Maria and south into the Intercoastal. With a strong breeze coming out of the west, I figured the Intercoastal on the lee side of the island would give us the best chance of some good riding. It was spotty, but we did find some good riding conditions and went all the way down to Sarasota Bay. On the way back I took H-man into Palma Sola bay, being as he had never been there and we still had a bit of gas left. Then it was back to the ramp. Both our skis had gas warnings by the time we arrived. Mission accomplished!
Sunday was a washout. Way too many storms to head out, and I was pretty beat up from Saturday. Hope for better conditions at Sunspree next weekend.
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