Beach Buoys
Posted by LeviLovR on June 02, 2023 at 00:07:52
First day of June and 90 degrees! This is definitely unusual but supposed to come to an end this weekend when rain comes in and more normal temperatures returns. So a good day to head to the lake.
Put on a pair of brown boots, a brand new pair of Wrangler jeans never worn before, medium blue in color, light blue and white checked shirt, light blue silk tie, and off white cowboy hat.
I was at the lake Monday and the water was really cold. It's warmed up quite a bit in the last couple of days - still chilly but tolerable. There were already some people on the beach and in the water as I climbed up on my favorite rock next to the dock. I had only been there a few seconds when two large trucks from the town pulled in, one towing a small boat and the other towing a trailer with a large cable spool on the bed. But instead of cable it was covered with ropes bedecked with buoys to mark off the designated swimming area. I've always wanted to be present when they did this to see just exactly how they accomplished it. I have been present in the past when they installed the dock and was able to assist with that and this looked like another possible chance to assist and get wet.
The crew consisted of six men, all very friendly. First things first, launching the boat. One man on foot headed to the far end of the beach and two remained near me while the remaining three climbed into the boat and shoved off. One guy took the truck and boat trailer up to the parking lot and then backed the trailer with the cable spool down the ramp.one of the guys waded out into the water up to the bottom of his shorts and remarked how warm the water was, a pleasant surprise as he thought it would be frigid. The other guy got up on the trailer and started turning the crank on the spool as the one in the water grabbed the rope and started pulling the buoys off and handed them to someone in the boat, which headed farther and farther out into the lake.
I commented that it seemed like they had more buoys than usual and the two men told me they had decided to expand the size of the swimming area this year. Because the water is so shallow at this beach often by the end of summer the water at the end of the rope is often only knee deep and many people go quite a ways out beyond the ropes creating a safety hazard and a risk of getting hit by passing boats. Hopefully this will eliminate the situation, although I doubt it. They explained the goal was to have the two shorter sides be 300 feet long and the width be 600 feet long. I watched as the boat kept heading farther and farther out until it seemed like it was halfway across the lake before it finally turned running parallel to the shore. The two men near me were complaining that the person who had originally wound the buoys on the spool had made a tangled mess, something like a string of Christmas tree lights that occasionally had to be stopped and sorted out. While they were doing this the boat still kept tugging at the rope unaware of the problems at the dock. So I learned that the buoys themselves are actually three pieces of plastic that snap together something like legos and in the untangling process a few of them broke apart and had to be put back together, yet all the while the guy on the trailer was still cranking and the bot was still tugging, leaving the guy in the water to fix things. So one of the buoys came apart near me but the guy in the water simply couldn't get to it so I jumped off my rock, waded over and snapped it back together for him. The water was indeed warmer than anticipated and was now over the top of my jeans. Might just as well stay where I was and help.
Because this was the first time they had ever used this much rope they were a bit unsure just how to manage everything. One section of the rope got very tangled and no one was near enough to go fix it, so I waded over and after a bit of struggling finally managed to unravel it. I grabbed the rope and pulled it over to where it should have been to keep it from floating over itself and tangling up again. Finally all the buoys were off the cable spool but I remained in the water for a bit in the event of any further mishaps or entanglements. Now it was up to the people in the boat to establish the actual boundary of the swimming area. The two men near me went out on the dock waiting for further instructions and I returned to my rock to dry off. It took a few hours to get it all done but at last it was finished and the crew started packing up to leave.I told one of the guys it was a great idea to have the expanded swimming area but I saw two problems. I still think swimmers are going to go out beyond the ropes as the level of the lake starts to go down over the summer, and I think boats at the dock are going to get entangled in the rope because they are not used to the ropes being that far out. We shall see what happens.
After the town crew left I was still sitting on my rock and practically dry. A few boats had come in but did not need any assistance. Then a large truck came hauling a giant trailer. It was a company that installs docks at the various camps around the lake and they had an enormous section of dock on the trailer. An equally enormous barge was coming across the lake to retrieve it and take it back to the work site. All totalled it was a crew of four guys. One of them looked at me and asked, "Aren't you hot?" The lake's right there to cool off in," I replied. "You're not going in like that are you?" And I replied that I already had been in and was going in again and climbed down off my rock and did indeed soak myself again. "Not everyday you see a guy swimming in a suit," One of the guys said. Technically I was not in a suit because I wasn't wearing a jacket, just a shirt and tie. My response was it usually isn't 90 degrees on the first of June either. Once I had resoaked myself I went back to my rock and watched them transfer the section of dock from the trailer to the barge with a large crane. Another interesting procedure. Then home, stopping for an ice cream on the way.
Wacky wet summer has begun.
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