Shirley 1.1

Well, enough on the negatives, Shirley did have some up sides. One of them was the comedic value. Not long after I had her, and got her running properly, my uncle Paul came to visit. One thing to note about Shirley was that she was SeaDoo XP. That model is known for a more advanced riders, it was more designed to cut and turn quickly, and she would have no problem throwing you in to the water.

Story #1: One of the great things to watch was people trying to get on. This is where uncle Paul comes in. He was standing by the boat dock, and getting on the ski, when it started to roll, so he shifted his weight to try to stay up, so it went that way due to the overcompensation of weight....over she goes, with uncle Paul still hanging on. We saw the bottom of the ski, and a few seconds later, uncle Paul came back to the surface sputtering water out of his mouth. So, we had to load Shirley back up and I had to go work on her since rolling her over always caused the engine compartment to fill with water. The work was well worth the laugh though.

Story #2: This involves a trip to Lake Kampeska. So, I'm on the beach with my cousin Sherry who brought the kids out, and Ben, who was 3 at the time, wanted a ride, but he did NOT like the water spraying up on him, so he made Trent go slow. He had seen Trent being quite wild, so he wasn't sure he wanted a ride. Trent told him he'd be kind, so Ben agreed to go, but only go slow! So they started driving around. Well, Shirley isn't really stable at low speeds, but Trent kept her upright, well almost. Coming back to shore, it started to go, and Trent grabbed Ben and held him as they both went off the side and into the water. The look on Ben's face was priceless. The look of shock that said, "I can't believe you just threw me into the lake" said it all, and Sherry and I could only laugh at the expression. Ben would not get back on the jetski.

Story #3: We were at the family campout, and we had the two jetskis there. So, my cousin-in-law Jeremy decided to take mine for a spin. It was the first time we'd had more than 1 ski. He managed to get on, but it was wobbling all over, be got going, and was tearing around. Well, he got too wild and threw himself off. I was watching from the shore sitting by aunt Deanna. Well, we watched, and laughed as Jeremy would get most of the way back on, only to be bucked back into the lake. After about 7 minutes, we could hardly breathe we were laughing so hard. Trent got on the other jetski, went out and held mine so Jeremy could get back on and come back to shore to the roaring laughter of the family that had gathered to watch this spectacle. So, thus we did get some good times out of Shirley, despite her obscene repair bills.