Page 53 - MARINAOFTHEYEAR

Ahhhhhh perfect.

So what do you do in 2003 without land lines? You call the phone company and have your 4 line system rolled to
a cell phone. So we had Jerry’s “flip phone” as central command.

BUT WAIT, IT GETS BETTER

About this time… the water patrol boat pulled in to the dock and so did the fire department boat. They were super
happy to participate in our in-water boat display for our National Marina Guests. (Remember we have no power,
no phones, 80 people on shore) Right about then… Jerry and one other guy managed to get the safety release
pulled on the overhead and somehow wedge the large overhead door open with enough space (about 10”)
underneath to squeeze the forks of the backup forklift under the door. We then were able to lift the overhead door
up.

Whew. Finally things were turning around. This allowed us to gain access to the main forklift and 8 pontoon
boats.

Jerry left for an appointment off site.

BREATH DEEP.

BECAUSE THE STORY GETS BETTER…
Shrug. Shake head.
5-4-3-2-1

Here comes the forklift, with a 20’ boat on the
forks… chug chug down the ramp. Wait… it’s
not stopping… WHOLY _____ IT’S NOT
STOPPING.

The boat took off like a torpedo, and the only
thing that stopped the forklift was one fork
caught the metal post of the floating dock.

There we sat with an entirely new definition of “In Water Display”

The temporary dock was destroyed, the boat was fine, and the forklift sat teetering between it’s current 6’
submersion… ½ wet engine and doom.
“Hey”, I though, I’ll just call someone.
OH that’s right, we don’t have phones and honestly, who do you call? I’ll just call Jerry… Oh yeah, he’s off site
and his phone is being used as the main routing number!

BREATHE

I called a long time resource of the boat yard, someone who had worked for us for years. My conversation went,
“Cliff… I can’t get a hold of Jerry, and the forklift is in the lake, what do I do?” I just got a dead pause. “Cliff…
hello… Cliff…” He finally answered, “I’m in Duluth”… I said, “That’s great Cliff… I just need an idea, any
idea… “ He said, “Call Williams Towing and tell them you need the BIG tow truck. “

I called Williams and said, “I need the BIG tow truck” I repeated this three times. Wouldn’t you believe it, they
showed up with the smallest tow truck I’ve ever seen. The tow truck driver gets out and says, I can’t pull that, we
need the BIG truck.

Now the best part of this entire saga…

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