2020-08-13 Lake Havasu - Cowboys vs Indian Predator

8/13/2020 – Lake Havasu

Our second to last Havasu trips brings us two new faces and some obscene heat. 

Along with our regulars, Alan, Winni, Nick, Eliya, Whitney and Zack, Celida and Matt joined the crew to have some fun on the lake.  Celida and I worked at Spinlaunch together at the end of last year.  Matt and I both work at Raytheon, but really I know him through Vector friends.  Both of these two are super fun people and we were happy to bring some new energy out again.

We start Friday morning with the regular wakeboarding session off the shoulder just outside Thompson Bay.  At first glance, the water looked okay but after just a couple riders we decided to head south for the wakeboard cove in search of better water.  Just south of the shoulder is a narrow section of the lake that has decently high hills on both sides of the lake which means that it is wind protected.  We hardly ever ride in this area since boats can come flying by kicking up big wakes while we float around chasing rope.  However, on this day the water looked way too nice and we decided to go for it.  We did get in some decent pulls in for a few riders but not without issue.  The alternator is apparently putting out too much voltage when the motor is running which makes the tower speakers shut off.  The handle of the wakeboard rope broke, twice.  And the touch screen stopped working which means we didn’t have control of the ballast.  Luckily we had a full boat of people and we were able to tip the boat to one side or another to kick up a decent enough wake to surf on.  We ended up staying out almost to midday with a bunch of us taking a few pulls. 

With poke and sashimi in our bellies from lunch and a quick nap, we switch gears from slashing water to sitting on noodles.  We handed Nick the wheel for the afternoon to get more seat time and to get more comfortable operating the boat.  He took us for a lap through the channel and back out to copper canyon.  We had a nice float in copper canyon until almost 7pm when the winds kept picking up our anchor and our neighboring boats had a wide swing with just one anchor in.

 So Saturday we resolve to get out to the water a little earlier, stay out, then head back around 4 to get ready for theme night; more on that later.  Rocking this season’s hot pink havasu tank, we load up for another pass through the channel before heading down to the wakeboard cove.  It is super windy and with our low bow, we are throwing a lot of spray into the boat along with several decent waves.  We end up pulling some weight to the back of the boat to pitch up the bow.  It’s still a pretty rough ride down the lake but about halfway to the cove the wind lets up and we find some flatter water.  By the time we get to the wakeboard cove conditions had improved significantly. Despite having to share the cove with a wakeboard boat who is surfing back and forth the north side of the cove, we have a couple hours of quality pulls in the cove.

Steamboat is just a quick ride north from the wakeboard cove and we are anchored up in to time.  Unfortunately 4pm came super quickly and we had to cut our float short.  More than likely we had at least a couple hours of floating but I really wanted more.  No bother, more fun to come!

SO, story time:  At the beginning of August, a few of us were supposed to have movie night at the Deswing house.  The movie of choice was to be Predator, the original.  This is the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie where he says “Get to da choppa!” among other gems.   To pair with this movie we were going to have an Indian themed dinner.  Nick and Eliya were going to make mango lassi and garlic naan, Zack and Whit were going to make saag paneer, and Holly and I were going to make Rogan Josh and Channa Dal.  However, a couple days before the night, SpaceX put Nick and other engineers on quarantine lockdown in preparation of the astronauts coming back from the International Space Station.  So after a series of text messages and a conference call we narrowly avoid blowing an O-ring with Zack and decide to have the dinner and movie in Havasu instead.  However, we had already decided to do a cowboy theme night as a replacement for going to the country line dancing bar.  The result?  Cowboys vs Indian Predators!  You choose the costume!  The food came out really good, except for the non-existent Saag Paneer, the costumes were fantastic, and Whit led us through some line dances.

Just as we got to the halfway point of the movie, we paused it to discuss shifting gears from bellies full of indian food to drinking games.  Then there was some noise from the door, at 10:00.  Alan opens the door and in comes two America mylar balloons, a 30 rack of coors light, a bottle of Jack Daniels and Nick Reddy. Oh Nick, what an entrance.  While it is a surprise that Nick showed up unannounced, we aren’t surprised that Nick showed up unannounced.  However, this does fuel the drinking energy and we play a couple hours of rage cage.  Thanks Nick, well done.

 Sunday we opt for the channel to maximize our time in the water and avoid the winds in Thompson Bay.  Calisto is getting more and more comfortable in the water, almost jumping in the water on her own. Miles and Calisto are doing a better job of getting along/ignoring each other.  We pack up, leave town around 2 and make it home around 7.  Much better than the previous trip with this crew when I got them home at almost 11.

 

Thanks for a wakeboard/wakesurf heavy trip and a super fun theme night guys!  Hopefully Nick and Eliya get lucky and have their work schedules slip so they can make the season closer.