Does anyone remember a night in May 1985(other than Paul Marks, Chris Skrysmoski, Kathy & Ginny Wright) when a boat sunk out on the lake? Yea I was there too.
After closing the Sohio station at 210 & Lorain I met Kathy,Scuz,et.al. down at the river. We all hopped on Scuz's boat with an 18 pack of Stroh's for a relaxing senior evening.
We motored out of the tranquil Rocky River into a small chop out on the lake(2' or less). There was a moderate NE breeze, eminently boatable though. Scuz opened up the 200hp Johnson thumbscrewed to the rotten transom of an old 18' tri-hull yacht. We cracked the Stroh's on the way out, we buzzed along into the waves for about 10 or 15 min. and slowed to a stop. At this time Kathy and I were lounging on the back seat. As the sternwave met the transom and broke over it and Kathy and I, Paul screamed 'we're goin' down!' To be continued... If anyone's interested.... Let me know on the message board-SK
Hi Mike-- What none of us knew was that Scuz was working on the boat a few days prior. He wanted a killer stereo in it and in order to run the wiring under the gunnels he took out the built-in flotation. That's no big deal as long as the boat is in your backyard. We, however, were on the Gray Lady Erie. As I said, it was only a small chop-great for walleye fishing but a little uncomfortable pounding through them with 6 people on a small boat.
The breeze increased over the next 3 hours and became a stiff breeze out of the NE.
When I felt the cold water hit me and saw the Look of astonishment on Kathy's face I kinda knew I would probably get even wetter. Probably all wet! Then Paul screamed in a somewhat terrified voice ' We're going down!' and I kinda knew it would be a long evening.
It only took Scuz about 2 seconds to grab the lifejacket bag. That was good, Paul and Virginia getting a little too excited was'nt good. It took a little longer for the boat to actually sink. Like 2 minutes. No Kidding!
Imagine how long it takes 5 waves to hit shore.... That's how long it took for the little tri-hull to be all underwater. All except the 6 or 8 inches of the bow sticking up. I don't know how long it took for that BRAND NEW Johnson 200hp outboard to drag the scow to the bottom, we were looking for the shore. We could only see the shore when we got up on a wave. They were maybe 3 footers then. We were lucky it was'nt a SE breeze, we might have been killed by the hypothermia. Did I mention the water was 58 degrees? No Kidding!
Back to the scene, the boat is sinking and Paul is getting tense. We all have jackets on except Paul. He is holding on for dear life to the jacket bag. Scuz and I discussed our options. Leave Paul alone or get a jacket out of the bag that he won't let go of and get it on him. Scuz swam over to him and got the jacket out of the bag and then I swam away with the bag while Scuz fought him into a lifejacket. All is good now.
We decided to stay together and swim. I was'nt worried about myself or Scuz or Kathy. We all seemed to be cool with it, given the circumstances but Virginia kept telling Kathy that she was sorry about stuff and that she loved her and crazy talk like we are too young to die. It was cold but I did'nt think I was going to die. I had swum a mile across a lake in PA once when I was about 11. I also swam for rrhs junior or sophomore year I can't remember. Kathy was a swell swimmer as I recall and Scuz did fine too. Virginia was not as confident as the rest of us so she kind of held on to me as we swam the 2+ miles back to shore.
By the time we did arrive at RR Park the waves were crashing onto the new(at that time) breakwater. That was when I was the most worried someone would get hurt or maybe drown. We were tired and getting beaten onto the rocks could have been a problem. Every wave was a full 3 footer with the occasional 5 here and there. It was a good 2-2.5 hour swim back.
We told each other to be careful and we hit the rocks seperately- sort of. We made it; albeit with bruises, out ok. I think it was about 11:30 or a little after-maybe closer to 12 midnight. I know that the Harringtons were in bed when we knocked on their door. The Mild 70 degree evening felt like a sauna when we finally emerged from the turgid depths of mighty lake Erie. We cheated her out of six souls that night by golly. But she had the last laugh she got Scuz's boat and motor. Did I mention it was a brand new Johnson 200hp outboard motor? That was cool back then! y'all--every bit of $4500.00. No Kidding!
This is a true story, ask anybody! I think we made the Plain Dealer and I did hear it on the radio the following day. The cops did show up and gave us all a ride back to Scuz's house. I think they gave him a ticket too! --SK
Yeah a ton of stories! Falling off the 2nd story balcony at the Days Inn on Brookpark Rd.(Hotel Party), Passing a sobriety test in High School in his Fiat and I saw him drink at least 5 beers that night(we were all playing quarters). Doing whippits at Griggs' house and freon at the airport and on and on. Too many to remember. Good times!
Good to hear from ya Chuck! SK
