Lake Powell

[MikeWaters]

so to do it proper you have to have a houseboat and a ski boat?

Nice.

I'm guessing there are lots of kids in Utah who don't get to live on a houseboat for a week, water skiing everyday.

[MikeWaters]

When I was in junior high, there were the kids who came back from spring break with the lift tickets on their jackets.

That was a big status symbol--"our family is rich enough to travel over spring break to Colorado, New Mexico, or (less likely) Utah to ski."

I'm guessing in Utah, it's not a big deal to say you just went skiing.

It's hard to advertise that you went water skiing, and nobody cares anyway.

[ERCougar]

Originally Posted by Adam

Which reminds me of a great scene from the documentary "Sistaz in Zion" about NYC YM who come out to EFY at BYU. The dirt poor latina and the rich white girls from Bountiful and Sandy are sitting around talking the first day and the rich girls ask what everyone likes to do. Latina says she and her friends like to dance. "Where do you go to dance?" "We dance a home with each other." "Oh." Awkward silence. "What do you do for fun?" One rich white mormon asked another rich white mormon. "I like to go wakeboarding at Powell." All the rich white mormon girls explode into cheers and all start talking at the same time about how much they love to waterski and love Powell etc. Camera pans in on stunned latina who clearly had no idea what they are talking about.

I think I saw this on BYUTV? Great movie.

[Levin]

When Powell was at its lowest depths a few years ago (the lowest it has been since they first filled up the lake), many of the canyon treasures and springs emerged, and what surprised everyone was the condition they were in: for many, it was as if the dam had never been built. They're all under water again.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by TheSizzle36

My mom once rode the tube behind the houseboat from Slick Rock into Bullfrog marina. I believe my dad has Air Chaired behind the houseboat, although it was boring as hell but he did it just to say he did.

I can't imagine a Houseboat pulling a skiier. That would be a pretty funny sight.

Tubing I get. You cna tube at any speed. In fact, that could be quite relaxing as the last ride into the marina before you go home. I am surprised by an air chair....was it a smaller houseboat with less weight?

We have skied behind wave runners before....like you, it was just to say that we did it. If you are the skier, you never get pulled fast enough behind the wave runner, so it is harder to cut. And if you are towing, every time the skier cuts, there is this major lag on the wave runner. It is annoying.

I am picturing some 50 footer pulling a slalom....the guy has a graphite concept water ski, he is cutting through target bouys, the wake behind the houseboat is about 30 feet wide......then he falls. The flag goes up....and the houseboat takes about 20 minutes to do a full circle and get back to the skier to pick him up. Also, the houseboat is now out of gas.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

so to do it proper you have to have a houseboat and a ski boat?

Nice.

I'm guessing there are lots of kids in Utah who don't get to live on a houseboat for a week, water skiing everyday.

This is correct. The houseboat is literally your portable tent. It is not meant to be your main mode of transport on the lake. Even for cruising it is a bad option because it burns through so much gas. It can cost $500-1000 to fill up a houseboat these days, so you are not going to fire it up to go see Rainbow Bridge.

The standard approach is to use the houseboat as your base. Your houseboat leaves from one of the main marinas at Powell (Wahweap in AZ side, Bullfrong on UT side). You also usually launch a ski boat. Some of the fun is being in the ski boat.....you can leave beforehand and explore for awhile to find a nice beach where you want to land your houseboat. Or you can just ask and they will often tell you where to beach it. Once the houseboat and ski boat take off and beach, you camp there for the week (or however long). You use the ski boat to get around, ski, go into the marina for supplies, explore caves, cliff jump, etc. The houseboat almost never moves.

It is not uncommon to see a houseboat towing several wave-runners behind it (or even ski boats) as it lumbers out of the marina towards its beach.

As Sizzle pointed out, it is amazingly fun.

It is quite expensive, though, so it is not uncommon for families to pool their resources and go in on the rentals. Also, the most fun Powell trips I have had always involved larger groups, anyway. Like Sizz said, everyone sleeps up top on the deck. If you do it right, you bring your stereo with home speakers, video games, movies, a full BBQ, etc...

I thought you were kidding about the houseboat pulling a skier, so apologies if you really did not know. If you are to ever go houseboating, you would immediately see the humor in the question, though. It would be like trying to enter the Indy 500 driving a tractor.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by ERCougar

I think I saw this on BYUTV? Great movie.

As did I. They showed it between conference sessions several years ago. It was really interesting.

[MikeWaters]

It just seemed to me to be prohibitively expensive to have both a houseboat and a ski boat.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

It just seemed to me to be prohibitively expensive to have both a houseboat and a ski boat.

It is insanely expensive.

Houseboat rental for the week (large 12+ sleeper): $5-10K (more or less depending on season)

Houseboat gas for the week: 1000 or more, depending on how far you go to beach it.

Other Gas for the week: $500-$700 (assumes you already HAVE a ski boat. If you need to rent a ski boat for the week.....$1500-2000 more)

So before any food, you have to pay about $8-13K for the week....jsut to get into the water.

Dont forget food for the week, travel to and from the marina, etc....

You are right....this is not a "4 times a year" vacation. That is why families pool and go into it together.

[TheSizzle36]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

It just seemed to me to be prohibitively expensive to have both a houseboat and a ski boat.

You aren't going to have a cheaper vacation going to Lake Powell. It's still going to cost money. But when you go down with 5 families and split the costs equally, it becomes more fun and not nearly as expensive. We've had a time share on a houseboat for 2-3 weeks a year since I was 10 or so, and have gone down one week with 4 families from my parents home ward, and the other week (or two) is split up between about 12 adult couples. Doing it that way really negates a lot of the cost, and when everybody brings down their different 'toys' (wakeboards, skis, air chairs, wake surfs, knee boards, tubes, etc) you can learn new things and it's a lot of fun.

We usually have 2 ski boats and a couple of jet skis that make the drive down. The boats are good for being pulled, the jet skis are good for exploring and just driving around.

The good thing about Lake Powell is typically even if your family doesn't own a boat, you know somebody who does. One of the more fun trips to Powell was with our Young Men group (which wasn't in a ward that was upper-class) and I don't think I knew of anybody in High School that didn't at least have an opportunity to go down.

Also, there are many people who head down there and camp on the beach with a ski boat.

I grew up with Jet Skis, so I learned to Air Chair, Wakeboard and Knee board behind a jet ski. Once I was pulled behind a boat, it was cake. I don't think I could go back.