Tornados and Sailboats

This is my first blog here. I've written a few things on a couple of other sites before, but I this is my first attempt at a "real" blog. Whatever that means, I guess. So here goes. This is how we spent our Labor Day...

"Sir, were they wearing life jackets?"

"What are their names?"

"Where is the last place you actually saw them?"

The questions were rattled off in machine gun fashion by the Search and Rescue paramedic. I must have had a dazed look on my face because she grabbed my shoulder and shook me into the moment. These aren't questions that I should be answering, this stuff only happens in the movies right? I quickly came to my senses and answered the questions that were asked of me. My mind began to race again, "Where is my wife? Why haven't they found her? She should have swam in this direction. What am I going to say to my boys if the worst is true?"

Let me back up...

It was a nice sunny afternoon. Labor Day Monday and I had just seen my Mom and nieces off as they began their 3 hour drive back home after visiting us for the weekend. About two in the afternoon we decided to go out to the lake and get a little sailing in probably for the last time this summer. Little did we know. We packed everyone up in the Jeep, me my wife Andi, and our two boys Connor and Gavin. The lake was emptying out for the weekend, and we found our usual spot on the beach and were glad to have most of the lake to our selves. My in-laws were already their rigging up their little dingy, and my wife's brother and his family pulled in right behind us with their catamaran. The kids all played on the beach while the guys sailed around and took the kids out one at a time for their rides on the boats.

My wife loves to sail, but I'm more of a ski-boat guy. Our boat has been in the shop this summer, so I was more than content to let my wife go sailing while I stayed on the beach and played with the kids. My wife and her dad head out in the dingy and about the same time, my brother in-law takes his 4 year old out on the cat for a quick ride. I'm relaxing on the beach in my lawn chair, trying to recover from playing in the water for the last 30 minutes with my boys. The sky turns dark and we remark that we might be in for a little rain. The wind picks up a little bit and the rain starts so my sister in-law takes her baby to the car, and I tell my boys to start picking up their toys. Within 30 seconds it goes from a little breezy to "What's that sound?" I look up to see the sky turn green and just then a branch 10-12 inches in diameter falls from a tree and lands just feet from my Jeep. The wind hits like a wall of concrete as I put my kids in the car and chaos erupts all around us. My brother in-law just now reaches the beach and his wife runs down and grabs their youngest son and heads for their car. My kids are crying as the car shakes violently in the wind. As I open my door to go help get the catamaran on the beach and bring her sails down, I hear my kids pleading with me not to go out there.

I run down the beach to help my brother in law, but the wind is so strong that the rigging is all tangled up and the sails won't come down. He is dong his best to get it untangled and I'm trying to hold the boat steady, but the gusts of wind life us several feet off the ground and the rigging is hopeless. We hold on for a few more minutes, hoping the wind passes. My hands are raw from gripping the cables and the rope. My face and legs are stinging from the wind whipped sand cutting into my flesh. Then I remembered my wife and father in law. Where are they? I look out into the water and see their boat is capsized and see no sign of them. The visibility is so poor. I yell at Matt, both of us still helplessly clinging to the cat, "We have to let it go! Dad and Andi are still in the water!" On the count of three we both jump to the side just as a gust of wind comes, the cat is launched into the air and it tumbles down the beach.

Just then I remember that my kids are in the car alone so I hurry back to them. They're both crying and scared that the car is going to get hit by a tree. Then panic sets in. "Where's Mom? Is she in another car?" Dad where's Mommy!?!?" I tell them that she's going to be fine, but I'm not sure if I believed it myself. I see my brother in law flag down a ski boat and convince them to go out and search for them. I try to calm the kids as I move the Jeep down the beach for a better view and away from the large trees that seem prone to falling over all the sudden. After several tense minutes, the ski-boat comes back into view and the guys are jumping out onto the dock. There's my brother in law, but he's the last one out of the boat! Where is my wife? Where's Grandpa? Why would they come back to the dock without them? They're out there and they need our help! I run over to the dock, the force of the wind almost knocking me down. Matt explains that they didn't see anything, they must have swam to the shore over on the next point. The owner of the ski-boat panicked in the large waves and gave up on the search.

He's still saying something as I run back to the Jeep. They might be giving up on the search but I'm not. I head off the beach and out the parking lot to go around to the other boat dock near where they might have swam for the shore. As I near the main intersection I see a line of cars and campers and trucks. Why are all these people sitting here? "Move!" I shout. "Get out of my way!" I pass the line of cars and make my way up to the main road and I see the problem. A power line is down across the road and we're stuck. Well, they're stuck, I'm in a Jeep. I pull into the ditch as close to the broken power pole as possible and there's just enough room to squeeze through. Bystanders are yelling at me and one guy jumps in front of my Jeep and flags me down. I lay on the horn and almost run the poor guy over.

I make my way over to the next road, and into the camp ground and towards the dock where I need to go. I see a dirt trail that goes off in the direction farther down the point. I take the trail thinking that it might get me farther out and closer to where the boat turned over and hopefully to where they would have swam to shore. After a few hundred yards of dodging fallen trees and sink holes, I stop. There's a huge tree in the road and I can't go any farther. I tell the kids to stay in the car. While I look for Mom and Grandpa on the beach where they might have swam too. I take off on foot, the wind is much calmer but it's starting to rain and hail pretty hard. I make my way a few hundred more yards towards the beach and see...nothing. I run up and down the shore as far as I can in one direction and then again the other way. No sign of them. No foot prints. No one swimming or floating in the water waving for help. For the first time I actually fear the worst. My eyes fill with tears and I shout at the top of my lungs, "Andiii ! Andiii ! Where are you? You can't leave me!!!!!"

The tears come hard and fast as I stand there on the beach with my hands on my knees and head hung low, sobbing. "No...No!...NOO!!!" This can't be for real. This isn't happening. Then I hear something. A sound that slaps me in the face and sobers me. Sirens. Getting closer, coming my way. I run back in the direction of my Jeep where my boys are. Then I see a volunteer firefighter running towards me.

"Sir, are you o.k.? Are you hurt?"

No, I'm fine. That's my car and my kids. My wife was on a sailboat when the storm hit. I can't find her. I don't see her anywhere!"

"Sir, were they wearing life jackets?"

"What are their names?"

"Where is the last place you actually saw them?"

I answer their questions and now there are 10 of them combing the beaches calling out for them.

Nothing.

No response.

Nothing in sight.

I get in the car to comfort the boys. I explain that the rescue workers are here, everything is going to be fine. "I'm sure they'll find Mommy and Grandpa. They're good swimmers..."

It's been at least 30 minutes since the storm hit. I'm in shock.

Then the unthinkable happens. My cell phone rings. There's no service out here. The phones have never worked at the lake. It's my sister in laws' number.

"sadfnbljhuihreubg you there? lghblkjbnfgjkn jkblsakjbkljuuioqwrt them. lsduahfuhrgn jfhuqpwureth found them."

The signal isn't good, but those two words are all that mattered.

found them

Found them!

I run over to the ambulance and tell the paramedic that I got a call and I think they found them. "I don't know how I got a signal, but my sister in law called and I think they found them. They're at the light house. Do you have any units over there you can call on the radio?"

No, they don't. All units are over here, looking for them. The Fire Chief grabs a state trooper and they jump in the squad car and motion for me to follow them. We make our way through the broken limbs and downed trees. Around the fallen power lines and line of traffic. Past some damaged campers and more destruction. The five minute drive seemed to take 2 days.

We pulled up to the same spot on the beach where the rest of the family was and there was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen. Cold, shivering, soaked, wide-eyed from shock, wind blown and purple lips and cheeks wrapped in a blanket was my wife. I ran to her and took her and hugged her tight for eternity. When she finally speaks she says, "Miss me Much?" We both start to laugh and cry, the boys jump out of the car and run over and we all hug.

Everyone was fine. There were no injuries at the lake that day. Lot's of property damage. A couple of mangled sail boats, but everyone was fine.

After I left our spot on the beach to go to the other side of the lake, Matt found one more person in a ski-boat. They went back out looking for our missing loved ones. This guys wife just happened to have some binoculars in the car. They went up to a high spot on the shore and spotted my wife and her dad floating in the middle of the lake waving their arms. Then she called her husband on the boat and told them where to go.

It's the only time any of us can remember cell phones working at the lake.

Here are a couple of photos taken after the fact. And a link to a news story about the storm.

www.kneb.com/news/index/bdea1740-0c01-4cd1-b3cf-4df3e86c9eae

The catamaran.

The branch that narrowly misssed my Jeep.

Misc. damage shots.