The Memories......
I wish I could tell you when this picture was taken...I am guessing around 1981. I am in blue, my sister Annette is next to me and my brother Lance is on the outside. That is the LanAnnDes (Lance, Annette and Desiree) Yes..she used to be blue. From my earliest boating memories this was the boat we used. Later in my teens we also had a ski boat. Which sank up at the dock in Triangle lake one summer and dad raced home to get the LanAnnDes so we could finish our week of camping and water skiing. He left Annette and I to bail out the boat....why?
When Craig voiced concerns on Sunday evening about what could go wrong when we went to pick it up from dad's place I remembered back to all the boat fiasco's. And I assured him that rarely did my dad ever go out in a boat without having some sort of problem arise....from a broken tongue during hauling to sinking at the dock. And many things in between. My main memory of the LanAnnDes may not be what someone would call romantic but I do have a great love for this boat. I suffered from a horrible case of sea sickness. My dad loved the ocean, bay and every thing about the coast. We spent countless hours every year in the ocean or bay, pulling crab pots, clam digging, fishing....well, I shouldn't say 'we'...I should say Dad, Annette and Lance. I was always in a drugged stupor laying in the damp cabin of the boat (yes..there is bench on each side of the cabin area) shivering and just about as miserable as you can get. Wondering why in the world he instisted on dragging me along week after week to that god forsaken part of the world. It took me years to appreciate the coast again! Maxwell's clam chowder helped.
When my dad started to get older and was not feeling as well he realized he needed to go to a lighter weight boat. He drug the LanAnnDes out of the field and began rebuilding her. He also gave her the red paint job. He told me one day about two years ago that he wanted me to have her. I knew that someday I would enjoy taking Liam out....I just didn't know how soon that would be. My dad passed away last October....I became emotional when I realized I couldn't call dad and ask him when we got the boat. When the tongue broke, why he left Annette and me bailing out a sinking boat to go get the LanAnnDes and why he didn't pull the ski boat out of the water first. I know he had to have had a good reason. He did find out that we were lousy bailers though. Good information for future reference I suppose.
Everything went smoothly though. And as Craig began to pull her out of the field dad had parked her in I cried. I sure miss my dad.
Now we have to find the title, get the license taken care of, insurance, working lights and a motor (dad had left a motor for me but it inadvertently got sold with all the others) then we can take our first boat ride in many many years in this special boat.
When Craig voiced concerns on Sunday evening about what could go wrong when we went to pick it up from dad's place I remembered back to all the boat fiasco's. And I assured him that rarely did my dad ever go out in a boat without having some sort of problem arise....from a broken tongue during hauling to sinking at the dock. And many things in between. My main memory of the LanAnnDes may not be what someone would call romantic but I do have a great love for this boat. I suffered from a horrible case of sea sickness. My dad loved the ocean, bay and every thing about the coast. We spent countless hours every year in the ocean or bay, pulling crab pots, clam digging, fishing....well, I shouldn't say 'we'...I should say Dad, Annette and Lance. I was always in a drugged stupor laying in the damp cabin of the boat (yes..there is bench on each side of the cabin area) shivering and just about as miserable as you can get. Wondering why in the world he instisted on dragging me along week after week to that god forsaken part of the world. It took me years to appreciate the coast again! Maxwell's clam chowder helped.
When my dad started to get older and was not feeling as well he realized he needed to go to a lighter weight boat. He drug the LanAnnDes out of the field and began rebuilding her. He also gave her the red paint job. He told me one day about two years ago that he wanted me to have her. I knew that someday I would enjoy taking Liam out....I just didn't know how soon that would be. My dad passed away last October....I became emotional when I realized I couldn't call dad and ask him when we got the boat. When the tongue broke, why he left Annette and me bailing out a sinking boat to go get the LanAnnDes and why he didn't pull the ski boat out of the water first. I know he had to have had a good reason. He did find out that we were lousy bailers though. Good information for future reference I suppose.
Everything went smoothly though. And as Craig began to pull her out of the field dad had parked her in I cried. I sure miss my dad.
Now we have to find the title, get the license taken care of, insurance, working lights and a motor (dad had left a motor for me but it inadvertently got sold with all the others) then we can take our first boat ride in many many years in this special boat.