I have to share!

Guys, I know it is October 9th but we were at 86* today for a short amount of the day so we took the boat out at 4 PM, it gets dark at about 6:45 but I am only 5 minutes off the water from my house.
First, almost nobody was out there tonight.   3 ski boats and 2 wakeboard monsters.
My wife was driving our Nautique, she was injured years ago and can no longer ski but was a good skier and still is a great driver but in this boat that we have owned for 5 years now she has nearly zero experience as a driver. She has a Neck and back injury that has taken away the fun to ski or to ride in the boat. Any wake crossing can mean 3-4 days of bad pain.
We had 4 in the boat that wanted a boat ride and me wanting to get in some last of the season ski time.
My wife driving. I went out and on October 8th had 80* temps and warm glass water.
Enjoyed a great run till I could not hang on anymore and got back in the boat.
As I am drying off on the back seat I see one of the monster wakeboard boats going by about 100 yards off our nose.   I tell my wife watch out those large wakes will come right over the windshield. She says yeah I got it.   Again, has not driven this boat but 3-4 times in 5 years but thinks she has it under control.   I am still in the back seat, we have 3 in the front, my wife and 2 friends. All fully dressed and only out for a boat ride.
I tell her again watch those wakes they will come over our windshield.   She turns the boat to face them. I see them coming closer and tell her once more get the nose up.
She gasses it enough to let the first roller, 4" son of a Bi** go by and lets off the gas.
I say again get the nose up and she does nothing. The big wave comes right up over the windshield and puts about 4" of solid water right on my wife, and our two friends.
They were soaked from head to foot. Nothing other than ego's damaged but I was dry in the back seat trying my best not to laugh out loud. 1. Because my wife has never been wrong and 2. Because she is sitting in the drivers seat trying to figure out how this was my fault.
All 4 of us are laughing now, 3 are soaking wet and she keeps saying she avoided the first wake and not her fault there was a follow up wake.   I kept laughing and said she blew it and reminding her I told her more than once to lift the nose up.

After all this, I am in her doghouse because I made her look bad.   I am still laughing.
Should I feel at all guilty?
The way I see it she figured she was smarter than I was and had it handled and they got wet because it was her mistake.   I am OK with that but she can't accept it.

I came a little out of the doghouse by telling her that she still knows how to pull a good ski run and had straight steady pull that I really enjoyed.
But I will be in the doghouse for a while yet.
I am still laughing and hope to go again before the weather in the West turns crappy.
We had GLASS today for as long as my old bones could hang on the rope. It was great!
At 62 in two weeks I took two really nice runs before dark and enjoyed every second!

Not meaning to be an ASSHOL* but if I had heat seeking missiles the wakeboard/surf boats with those Go* Dam* 4-5 foot wakes would not be allowed in Ski territory!   They ruin the water for everyone.
I miss the old days when Outboards pulling skiers and Tournament boats pulling skiers were all you saw out on the lake. One would go by and you could wait like 40 seconds for glass to come back. These damn boats for surfing ruin the lake for about 10 minutes, not seconds.
Yes, I can wakeboard and Yes I can Surf but Skiing is my sport, it takes energy, focus, effort and is a battle between you and the boat and the younger generation has not embraced the battle.

It was a blast to be out on the lake tonight, I feel bad for those already putting the boats in storage back in the Northeast. Sorry.

Another Nautique, a 1996 Open Bow was on the water with us, launched at the same time and pulled out at the same time.   He walked up and looked into our boat at the hour meter and saw the boat is still at 188 hours total.   He smirks and says nice boat you should use it sometime and walks off to his 96 which looks like a boat no one had taken care of, his battery was dead and he had to jump it from his truck, exterior was faded and the interior looked tired. Launched it with the engine running dry with no water because the battery was dead, backed it down the ramp engine running, this is OCTOBER, he might have had the bugs out of it by now.   My wife was there for that one while I parked the trailer. She said nothing.
I would have explained, we put 1,500 hours on our first Nautique and 800 on our Malibu and 90 hours on this boat and maintained them so they always looked better than the day we bought them, what is your point. I might have been less than polite about the snide comment and mentioned he probably just fried the impeller running it dry on the launch.

OK, a couple of beers and some tri tip after a great ski day and you guys have the full rant for the night. Great ski day even though it was short from 4-7 PM. Funny experience on the ramp and in the boat and I probably will need to sleep in the extra room for a few nights but all is great!
I will also share that one of the guests thanked us and told us this was probably his best day in a few years! That is what boating is all about!
I laugh and tease about it becaue my wife has never made a mistake in 40 years of marriage and I know she will not admit to taking that wave because she would not listen to my advice. It is not in her DNA but I am still laughing and was just joking about sleeping in the other room. I will squease in with her and test the waters! No Guts no Glory Right.

I hope this at least made you guys smile!

So true, at least she is upfront about it.

Mark (or anybody else also) Show your wife the video in the link below, it'll probably make her smile

link

Good stuff. Thanks for the story.

Well, she still tells me that I took too much enjoyment pointing out that she chose not to listen. Which I am fully guilty of and still laughing about.
I have a fan running in the boat today trying to dry the interior, it got pretty wet.

That Video is priceless Ken, I had tears running down I was laughing so hard.
Man that husband had YES DEAR down pat!
We have apple TV in the livingroom and we still have our guest that also got drenched staying with us.
I plan to set up the TV tonight and play it through the Apple Air Play on the big TV.

If I don't post anymore you know I was killed but I think they will laugh as hard as I did.

JQ, still going out when it is 34 degrees, Holy Crap, using your standards I could ski year round. I like 75 and up although 65 and sunny has been done a few times.
We did the Polar Bear Club on New Years one year, 32 degrees and foggy, only swim suits were allowed. It was so cold after the ski my arms would not work to swim 20 feet to shore.
They felt like heavy logs but a fire on shore and some brandy brought us back to life.
One guy went out, probably still drunk from his New Years Eve celebration and tried to learn how to ski on doubles in that weather. Tried to get up about 5-6 times. He was purple by the time he quit.

Mark,

I did not realize you are my brother in-law. My wife is your wife's sister. Neither have ever been wrong.

Donald

Ken, the ladies loved your video of the court case. I still smile thinking about it.
Tried to get a crew to go out today, temps were 75 but no takers. The fan is still running in the boat, it is pretty close to dry.

Don, Nice to know I have another brother in law out there that likes to ski! I have a niece that moved to Denver this year on a Job Transfer. She is well trained in boats as a driver, and in the boat is quick to manage the ski or rope as necessary and starts wiping everything down as soon as you pull the boat out without anyone asking for help.
And she is fun to hang with, now a new mother with husband in Denver.
Went out with us from the time she was about 5, she is 30 now. If you need an observer next season.

As long as we're dealing with husband/wife issues:

It's Not About The Nail

JQ

JQ, that is funny!

Mark, back to your original post ..... the launch ramp stuff ....... my launch ramp conversations are limited to me asking if someone needs help if I see someone ahead or behind of me that is older or not moving well, plus hello and "nice boat", other than that I pretty much stay quiet and try not to make eye contact.

On the river and small lake that I ski on most of the time, people in wake boats are pretty courteous, can't say I have any complaints there. The large lake in our area, Winnipesaukee, is a different story, not a lot of consideration for fellow boaters from a lot of the people. But, that lake isn't somewhere you go to ski during the day.