Dear whoever you were, you just missed hitting a rock.

You must be new to the lake, otherwise you wouldn't have done that. You wouldn’t have blown full bore on your PWC with your kid in front between Rebels Isle and the small island opposite around 5:30 PM on Tuesday, July 16. If you're reading this you know it's about you. You could have maimed yourself and your kid. You missed a shallow rock I’ve scrapped my kayak on by less than two feet and only this year's high water saved you from hitting a shoal right in your path. Did you see the tree stump poking out? Do you understand tree stumps showing above water tend to indicate shallow water? Okay, enough. When you roared through I was furious but grateful; grateful you got away with it. I’ve no interest in collecting bodies for the OPP Marine division, (they don’t like it either) Besides I'm just as lucky as you were. 32 two years ago I was new to the lake and went full-on through a narrow channel heading for Portage Bay. My 14-year-old son was with me. I saw the rock as a sudden amber glow right beside me and and felt that top of the roller coaster thrill in my gut as I passed. Three feet to the right and I’d have hit it going as fast as the boat would go. There are no airbags or seat belts on a boat. But what we do in boats is equivalent to stripping off the body of a car down to its frame leaving only the engine, wheels, chassis, seats and steering wheel, then going seventy mph down the highway. Would you do that? All this is to say I understand. I can't blame you for not having learned yet, but I hope when you hit that shallow water going as fast as you were going, that you saw those rocks and you shit your pants realizing how close you came. And that you learned from it. Glad you got away with it; please don’t do it again.