It has been a few weeks since I have been able to go out on the boat. The last trip out, I broke my rudder, but that was all fixed -thanks to Bill at Fleet 119-. My sister surprised me with a visit this weekend, so I decided to take her out for a ride on the Hobie. Sunday morning I get up and track Karen down. I also get Mordiki -my crew for the boat- to join us since he has had the most exposure to sailing the boat.

When we get to the boat, I put the rudder back on and prep it for launch. We take it down to the beach and raise the main. I was a bit worried about the weather, it had rained all morning and the wind was very strong. Lake Erie can be rather unpredictable, there were about 3 - 4 foot waves -if not larger- and I was slightly concerned about the sailing conditions. We were the only ones on the water, no one out on their boats for as far as the eyes could see. This meant that if an emergency was to happen, we would have been in dire stress.

Not to fear, I've been becoming a fine skipper and was very confident in my skills. I felt it would be safe to explore and pressed on out into the lake. The water was rough, I placed Karen in the middle of the boat to keep her out of the way and she was being splashed and pushed around by the waves coming over the bow. It was very intense, the boat was up on one hull and we were reaching speeds I have yet to reach. Suddenly the boat began to raise much to high. The mast was almost laying on the water and my sister had already slid off the middle of the boat. Mordiki bailed off the starboard hull, and I fell into the main sail. We had turtled the boat and been over powerd by the wind. Quickly Mordiki and I hopped up on the port hull and began tugging the writing line to lift the boat back. This was a very strenuous task. We tugged and tugged, Mordiki began screaming "I can't hold on, I am losing my grip!"

"Hold on man, it's coming up, I can see it, just a bit longer we can do it!" I screamed as my sister floated in the warter behind us. We finally got the boat righted and boarded it again. Now understanding the strength the wind had, I took a much more tender approach for the rest of the adventure.

After some time out in the lake, the wind picked up more and the waves grew larger. I felt that it was time to head back to shore. With our adrenaline still flowing madly through us, we sailed the "Blue Torpedo" back to shore and celebrated the most radical trip we've had yet.