By Sherrill Leslie

Ten Ski Club members  drove down to Clinton for the Bloomington Normal Ski Club Boat Regatta August 18th, 2007. Our boat regatta turned out to be a boat regatta with only one boat but we had a really good time anyway. The day started out raining. Tammy and I were worried that it would rain all day. We rented a pontoon boat for the outing. When we got there we had to check in with the manager of the marina and fill out the rental contract.

 

This was the first time I had ever driven a boat. I thought that renting a boat would be like renting a car. The manager spend nearly a half and hour going over every detail of the boat on a two page check list that must have had over a hundred items. I could not believe how much there was to learn about boats. Finally, we signed our names and the manager let us go.

 

Tammy and I, Mark Cooper and my parents, Carl and Ann Leslie headed out into the rain with the boat. The rest of the group went back to the bar.

 

We drove the boat around the south end of the lake by the dam and came back to the marina about 45 minutes later. By this time the sun was out and the rest of the group was ready to go. The rest of the day turned out to have beautiful weather.

 

 Now with the whole group, we headed for the north end of the lake to go swimming. The boat had a nice stereo. Margie Walker, Patti Whitlock and George Vaught showed us their dance moves. It was a great platform for sitting, dancing, and watching the waves go by. Everybody brought lots of yummy snacks to share. Donna Moritz brought sandwiches. Other people brought wine.

 

 Craig from Lincoln and George told us a great place to go swimming. We dropped anchor about a quarter mile from where the water exits the power plant.

 

Everyone that jumped in said the water was warm. When I jumped in I could not believe how warm it was. It was not warm like a heated swimming pool it was warm like a hot tub! You could see steam rising off the water in the distance. I would estimate the water was over 100 degrees. It felt really good after spending the first part of our boat trip in the rain. I had heard that there were parts of the lake that had warm water but, I had never experienced anything like this before in all the times I had been to Clinton Lake. Almost everyone went swimming. Marge and Patti stayed on the boat enjoying the sun.

 

On the way back Tammy drove the boat. We watched a guy on an Air Chair hydrofoil water ski doing tricks and flips. When he realized we were watching him he circled around our boat a few times showing off. What a wonderful day!

See more pictures from the boat regatta