There’s a moment every year on Lake Winnipesaukee that hits harder than the first chilly morning or the last ice cream stand closing for the season. It’s when the boats start lining up at the ramps – dripping, exhausted, and wearing that same defeated expression we all have when summer officially taps out.
This cartoon from the Boston Globe captures it perfectly: SUMMER itself rolling up the ramp, water still dripping from the prop, letting out a long, resigned “sigh.”
If you spend any time around the lake, you know the vibe. One minute the shoreline is buzzing with jet skis, pontoons, and kids cannonballing off the dock. The next minute? The marinas are stacked with shrink wrap, the ducks have the place to themselves, and the only boats on the water belong to people who own winter hats labeled “November.”
For those of us who love the Winnipesaukee boating season – water skiing, jet skiing, swimming, jumping off the boat in the Broads, all of it – this moment marks the end of the soundtrack that carries us from Memorial Day to Labor Day: buzzing outboards, clinking dock lines, and the quiet hum of people squeezing every last ounce out of a New Hampshire summer. We cherish the thrill of skimming across the water and the long, sun-drenched afternoons afloat – but most of all, we treasure the time spent together as family.
As the boats head for storage and the lake settles into its long off-season exhale, there’s a mix of melancholy and gratitude. Another summer in the books. Another one gone too fast. And yes, planning for next year is already underway – because on Winnipesaukee, hope returns as reliably as the ice melts.
But for now?
Just like the boat, we sigh.
