I wish I had a video to go with this but sadly y'all will just have to do with the story.
So, anyone who knows Head Lake (The Norland one, not the Minden one) knows that this lake is treacherous. My dad and I have a combined 60 years on this lake and there are areas that we still tread very lightly. Especially with the water levels down and the lack of rain we have been having.
Long weekends at the cottage are always interesting because there are always people launching their boat or renting cottages on the lake that have never spent a minute on the lake, let alone charted out where the rocks are. This doesn't stop people from going too fast in areas that they really shouldn't be going fast. For us locals, this is usually pretty entertaining. (Keep in mind, this is with us sitting on our deck with them a few KM away, so I can't exactly warn them).
So Monday at noon time we are sitting down on the deck, relaxing and eating lunch as we see a large sport fishing boat going across the lake from west to east on the north side. (For those of you who don’t know, the north side of the lake is the worst. You only go north to south and you always follow the marker bouys). This boat is going right through what we affectionately call ‘the minefield’. So I call my dad out saying ‘you are going to want to see this’. The boat was going slow but with how shallow the water has been this year, there was no way they were getting out of this one.
They get about ¾ of the way across the lake going very slow (kudos for them on that) before slowly turning around. Clearly they had hit one of the spots that are impossible to pass with a motor boat.
After they turn the nose of the boat around was when they made their mistake. They start heading back what I can only assume they thought was their path at a much faster speed. Again, this lake is so rocky that if the rocks or the current blow you off course even by a foot you are in trouble. They get about 10 feet from the spot where they turned before we hear a loud ‘ping’ as we watch the back of their boat jump about 2 feet in the air.
We kept watching. It was clear their motor was done for. We weren’t sure if we would need to go out and help but their trolling motor was still working. It looked like they were going to have a long ride back to the boat launch.
Friendly reminder everyone, until you know a lake like the back of your hand, always play safe, get a depth map, or ask the locals. It can be a costly mistake.