As bright yellow school buses make their final stops and another day is marked off the calendar, a different school is just getting started on Dog River. Bathing suits replace uniforms and bare feet rejoice, free at last from the daily confines of loafers and saddle oxfords, as they race down wooden wharves toward the water.
From both directions, boats begin to appear around the bends in the river, forming an aquatic carpool line, as little voices shout greetings of “HURRY UP! IT’S TIME FOR SKI CLUB!”
Each spring when the weather — and, more importantly, the water — finally warms up again, Ski Club, as it is affectionately called by its loyal members, picks back up again right where it left off. For the past three years, every Wednesday night around 5 p.m., you will find the same group of eight or so families gathered at the end of a wharf as the night’s lessons begin and a beloved pastime is carried on into the next generation.
Mac McNeil, the host of this week’s Ski Club and third generation of the McNeil family to call Dog River home, grew up skiing and fishing with his brother and other boys in the “neighborhood” every single day in the summer. Years later when he and his wife, Handley, were raising their own generation of River Rats, he knew he wanted their kids to have that same sense of confidence on the water.
“When our boys were getting to be that age where it was time to learn how to ski, and wakeboarding was becoming popular, I felt strongly that anyone who lived on the river needed to know how to at least get up on two skis before getting into any of that other stuff,” Mac explains. “We talked to a few neighbors on the river who felt the same way, and we started getting together once a week to teach our kids how to ski.”
RIGHT Daniel McMahon raises his arms in celebration as he watches his daughter, Aurelia Marie McMahon, age 10, pop up on skis.
And just like that, Ski Club was born. While the lessons are for the kids, the parents get something out of it too, of course.
“It’s a great excuse for the adults to get together and have cocktails while the dads take turns in the boats pulling the kids, teaching each child how to ski,” Mac says. “We usually have one bigger boat pulling the older kids and one smaller boat pulling the younger skiers, and we just alternate who drives, who spots, who hosts that week. When it gets dark and it’s time to put the boats up, we have appetizers for the adults and two or three pizzas for the kids while they jump in the pool. From the late spring to early fall — last year we went all the way into October — you’ll find us skiing on the river every Wednesday night.”
Now Mac’s kids, the oldest students of Ski Club, are teenagers, and they’re learning the literal ropes so they can give the dads a break behind the wheel one day. The youngest member of Ski Club? David Bender, who just turned 1 year old. For now, he’s content to watch from the comfort of his Step2 Whisper Ride Cruiser while his mom steers him around the wharf, but with Ski Club starting as early as the skier is ready, he’ll take his own turn in the wake in few short years.
During the inaugural Ski Club in 2023, Dalton Nix broke an unofficial Dog River record when he got up on skis at 3 years old. His friend and neighbor, Henry Terrell, also 3 years old at the time, would not be left behind, and later that summer, he joined the record books alongside Dalton.
Frank Terrell, Henry’s dad and another multigenerational Dog River kid, grew up skiing with his older sisters and neighbors, and now he spends every Wednesday night of the warmer months pulling his own kids around the same river they skied together decades ago.
Frank and his wife, Leigh, live on a wide part of the river not far from where he grew up, where his sister, Colleen Comer, lives now with her husband and two children, and their parents also still live on the property in a second home. More family history can be found two doors down in the house his mom grew up in, where his grandparents raised their children to love the same water Frank and his sisters are now raising their great-grandchildren to love, too.
“When we were growing up, we went out and skied as much as possible, but it wasn’t quite as organized as it is now,” Frank says. “Although when I look around, the faces are still familiar — Benders, Bentons, Terrells, McNeils — just a bunch of kids who grew up together on Venetia Road, raising the next generation of River Rats.”
While the mental memories are sweet, the muscle memory is hard work, and sometimes there is the occasional trail of tears.
“We got a lot of those on Dog River,” Frank admits with a laugh. “Usually, the older kids will agree to ski first, really just whoever is feeling gutsy enough. And then we’ll go down the line, and everyone will take a turn. The difference each summer makes is pretty awesome. To get to watch them improve and gain confidence over time and from each other is fun to watch.”
While the dads quarterback from the boats, the moms form their own cheer squad on dry land, shouting words of encouragement, as well as performing the occasional physical demonstration when necessary. Adult beverages are safely set aside in order to properly mimic the motion of pushing one’s feet against skis, while a small head bobs up and down in the water 100 feet away, surely intaking as much wisdom as river water.
RIGHT The youngest member of the Dog River Ski Club, David Bender, age 1, watches the skiers from his mother’s lap.
As one skier swims in after completing a round, a new skier jumps off the boat into the water, buoyed by the confidence of their predecessor’s run. When the boat takes off and the new skier stands up momentarily, a chorus of squeals from the standing-room only cheering section drowns out the squawking of birds flying overhead. An urgent refrain of “Try again!” starts up as soon as the skier tips forward into the water, the boat slowing to a stop before circling around to begin again.
When the day’s lessons are complete — each skier having taken their required time in the saddle — there is, of course, a reward: tubing. Even those on the sidelines have been known to get a turn.
“One year we had this giant, inflatable hot dog tube, and at the end of Ski Cub the moms decided they were going to get on it — all seven of them,” Frank laughs. “I wish I could explain how long it took them all to get on there, how long it took just to work up the courage to all agree to get on. It was a pretty significant amount of time.”
While some may imagine life out on Dog River to be a solitary one, one night at Ski Club proves it is anything but. Older children watch younger children, moms tightly wrap towels around anyone dripping, and the dads put on a stunning show of patience and faith in their students as they start and stop again and again until each skier stands up and begins to race forward in the wake, always to a chorus of cheers from their biggest fans on dry land.
As the sun starts to sink on another week of Ski Club, one of the youngest members of the club, Finn Jones, age 3, climbs into his mother’s lap to watch the final skier of the night. With his skiing obligation complete, Marshall Levert, age 9, decides to try his hand at wakeboarding. Finn points and cries out as Marshall pops up but immediately falls forward and disappears into the water. Finn’s mother reassures him Marshall is not hurt; he will get back up and try again. Finn nods, not taking his eyes off his older classmate, surely dreaming of the day that he will get to join him.
And of course he will; he is a River Rat, after all.
