The Canoe
It was a nice, sunny day near a lake with almost no wind. There was a family of 3 who wanted to go canoeing. Joe, Maria, and Fon loved to travel, so they took out their two canoes and packed them in their van. One was barely small enough to fit inside the van. The other had to be placed and roped down on top.
As they drove, Fon saw some big clouds in the distance, but they were very faint. Fon, a seventeen-year-old, told his two parents that there was a big, faint cloud in the distance. The cloud was too far away to really distinguish well. It was coming in at about thirty miles an hour.
At the lake, Buffalo Lodge Lake of North Dakota, eighty-four miles north-northeast of where they lived, the family stopped. They got out and looked at the water. Fon touched it and realized that it was very warm. The temperature was a mild 82° and the water temperature was a pleasant 76°. There were almost no waves on the water's surface so canoeing would be great.
Joe, age thirty, untied the canoe on top and took the one out from the inside. Maria helped Joe in the process. The two canoes were pushed out to the lake's edge. The family had to decide who was going to go together. The two that knew how to swim really well eventually went in one canoe. Maria, age thirty-six, knew how to swim, but afraid of others rocking the canoe. They eventually set out to sea.
At About a seven miles from shore, a storm was building up and fast. Fon had a feeling that this was going to happen earlier, but didn't think it was going that fast. They had to return to shore very quickly, but the storm was building up and fast. Seven miles was really long and they were travelling at up to ten miles an hour at their fastest. That would really strain their stamina if they went at that speed to the shore. They had to think of something. While they thought, they turned their canoes around and headed toward shore.
"Is there a way we can reach shore in time?" said Fon.
"I don't know of any other way other than to race back" said Maria. Their two canoes bumped each other lightly and the family started to paddle back.
"The storm is building up and fast!" exclaimed Fon. "As an estimate, the storm will break when we're three miles from the shore".
"Probably four miles instead" said Joe.
"Could be two even, but with the way it seems after further investigation," said Fon in a nervous way, "it's probably three and a half."
"How about a race?" Asked Maria in a happy way.
"I like that idea, however, we have more power because Fon is in here" declared Joe.
"How about we alternate every so now and then?" Asked Maria.
"Hmm. You'd eventually get tired out and with alternation," Joe paused, "we'll have a greater power supply still. One of us will have to paddle."
"Dummy me!" Exclaimed Maria. "Why didn't I think of that! Oh well."
"On your marks," Fon said with a two-second pause, "get set," two-second pause, "GO!"
The two raced as fast as they could and then slew down. It was already a close race to start with.
At the two mile marker, the sky was growing dark and fast. The family was getting worried, but Fon and Joe were ahead by just a few feet. Joe was paddling Fon was monitoring the storm. Fon noticed rainsheets to the southwest, the original direction of the storms that they passed by earlier. This didn't look too good. The wind started to pick up, but slowly. Fon looked at the darkest cloud and noticed underbellies. underbellies indicates severe weather.
At the five mile marker, the family felt the first sprinkles. Maria was still lagging behind, but not as much. The waves were about two and a half inches high at the moment, but the wind was increasing and fast. After another one thousand feet, it was starting to sprinkle. They thought that they were going to get drenched, however, the storm started later than expected, one and a half miles later. Eventually, it started to rain a lot and the whole family was drenched. They didn't bring an umbrella with them so they got wet. Luckily it was still a mild 79° out and the water was a degree warmer. At the six mile marker, the waves were very high as the wind was going fifteen miles an hour. This would be hard for canoeing, but the winds were picking up speed and fast.
By the six-and-a-half mile marker, the waves were very high with the wind at 25 miles an hour. Joe's canoe capsized but the water was very deep. Marie's canoe was filled with water about a third of the way. She caught up rather quickly, however, her canoe capsized as well. They were both stuck treading water. Luckily it was warm, however, the wind made it feel cold. Fon went underwater and swam to Marie and protected her. She was scared, but Joe wasn't all that scared. Joe eventually decided to swim to Marie to help flip the canoe over, but the waves were so strong that getting in the canoe was a challenge only supernatural athletes could do. They decided to tread water until the storm went away. They were a half a mile from shore making it very difficult to just swim back. The storm, after about forty minutes, finally went away and the waves were down. Joe, Maria, and Fon flipped the canoe over and Maria got in soaked. Joe and Fon swam over to their canoe, about twenty feet away and got in after flipping it over.
They continued their race. By the time they back to where they were, they were well rested so they could race their way. Joe, who was paddling again, went wild and caught up with Maria and left her behind. Maria saw what he did and did the same thing. The race was close. With only two hundred feet to go, the race seemed as if it's anyone's guess. One hundred feet, Joe pulled ahead slightly. By twenty feet, Maria caught up but by the time she did, they both hit shore at the same time. They were confused to who won. It was too close to tell, so they called it a tie.
The family packed their canoes again and eventually got travelling back home. What a day!
Footnotes:
There are no footnotes for this page.
