The remains of the mast from the Steve family's sailboat, the Skol, lies across the charred dock from where it was struck by lightning.
COEUR D'ALENE -- The effects of Monday's lightning storm are still being felt in Coeur d'Alene, especially in Cougar Bay where the show quickly turned into a raging fire.
A bolt of lightning struck a family sailboat along Lake Coeur d’Alene, sparking a fire that gutted the boat and sent it to a watery grave at the lake’s bottom. Losing the boat for the Steve family was like losing a good friend.
From her porch perched above Lake Coeur d'Alene, Liz Steve watches the choppy water below and a now charred dock where her sailboat, the Skol, once called home.
“I never dreamed of anything like that happening,” Liz said.
Lightning turned the dark sky purple Monday night and while she loves storms, she said this one was awful, grabbing her chest thinking she had been hit. She wasn’t hit but a phone call moments later from a neighbor confirmed a lightning strike had happened close by.
“He called up and said ‘Hey Liz you're boat’s on fire,’ I said that's not my boat he said ‘Yes it is, I'm afraid it is,’” Liz said.
“I saw our boat going away, that's what I saw, flames must have been 30-feet high,” family friend Conall Kingrey said.
All that’s left of the Skol is a few scattered, broken pieces. The boat had been in Steve’s family for 30 years and when it sank Monday night so did Liz Steve’s heart. Her kids and grandkids all learned to sail on the boat on Lake Coeur d’Alene and all those trips bring back wonderful memories for her.
Even the Skol is gone, family and friends still find time to laugh about it.
“There's no sense in crying about it, it's not going to bring it back ya know,” Conall said.
And of course there’s always time to figure out who’s to blame.
“Well, I was going to blame her but she said no way. Not going to blame God, taking too much of a chance, I'll say fate,” Conall said.
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