On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 20:18:15 -0400, BAR wrote:

In article ,
says...

On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 19:30:23 -0400, BAR wrote:

In article ,
says...

Took the boat to Pohick Bay yesterday, after noticing how well the new cover is
working out. Some very heavy rain got my neighboring boat's cover over the past
couple weeks. He is now a believer in the use of tight straps rather than bungee
cords for keeping his cover taut.

Daughter, SIL, and grandkids arrived at the launch ramp about the same time I
did, so no one had to wait. With three adults and four little ones, the boat was
pretty full. The Yamaha 150 had no problem getting us moving though.

http://tinyurl.com/39klfrb

I might even have a new boat captain in the making...

http://tinyurl.com/32a3c48

We got to a little boaters beach outside Occoquan, VA, anchored and let the kids
start running around.

http://tinyurl.com/34heavr

The kids wanted to do some tubing, which I'd never tried before. This was the
tube I got last fall. Worked well, and they had a blast. The picture takers kept
using the zoom, so most of the tubing shots didn't come out.Here's my daughter
having fun...

http://tinyurl.com/2vmqr3r

Daughter took this picture of my $30,000 towel rack.

http://tinyurl.com/3ypjvl6

Great time had by all!

Looks like you spend some time in Belmot Bay.


That's where the boaters' beach is. We've been going there since the mid-80's.
Now that it's a state park, Mason Neck State Park, much of the wildness has gone
way down. The Park Rangers have clamped down somewhat and made it more a family
place with lots of kids running around.. There's still a few young folks
drinking some beer, but not nearly as bad as it once was.

We used to go there in the 70's very early in the morning to water ski.
It was like glass. When the sun came up and the wind kicked in a little
we would leave about 9:00 AM. The biggest problem we had was from the
end of June thru August when there was a lot of boats anchored by the
shore. We had been skiing since late March each Sat and Sun and these
late comers would get mad when we showed up at 7:00 AM to take advantage
of the glassy water surface.

The best fun was to see who could slalom ski back to Neabsco Creek from
Belmont Bay without falling.

There was a ski jump there in the mid-80's, but it's been long removed. It's
still a great place for tubing, but before about 10:00. We got there about
10:30, and there were only about 10 boats there at the time. Of course, the temp
was only in the 70's, and it rained a little later on. So, the weather may have
kept some folks home.

I'm meeting the other daughter and kids down at Lake Anna around noon. Should be
fun. I'd like to have gotten there earlier, but a damn dentist appointment
messed up the timing. Oh well.
--

John H