Anchors Away

There’s one boat in the Iowa Great Lakes that everybody knows.

The Queen II.

Everyone who lives or visits the Iowa Great Lakes more than likely has either taken a ride on the boat since it first set sail in 1986, witnessed it cruising over the waters of West Okoboji and possibly taken photos with it featured in the background.

It’s an integral part of the story of the Lakes area.

From Memorial Day through Labor Day, she runs seven days a week and features four cruises a day most days and charters on top of that. It’s a big job to captain the boat and it’s a responsibility that is shared by three men, Lance Freed, Rory Marra and Mike Manly. And while it is a big job it’s also a lot of fun.

We sat down with the Captains of the Queen II to learn more about them and what it’s like to drive this piece of Lakes history.

Lance has captained the boat for 23 years, Rory for 14 and Mike for nine.

All three men have history with the Lakes area.

“The story is my grandparents had a place up in Millers Bay. As a youth, I would come up to visit them and enjoyed being around the lake. Of course, we always had boats. One day early in our marriage, my wife and I were cruising around on the lake. She mentioned ‘maybe you could learn how to drive the Queen?’ Several years later, we stopped at the museum and Captain Steve Kennedy happened to be there. I asked if they were looking for another Captain for the Queen II and by chance they were,” Lance said.

Rory got involved with the Queen II first as a deckhand and then as a captain in 2009.

“Then in 2007 or 2008, Lance had mentioned, ‘I think it’s time.’ When I was working downstairs, I’d come up here for about 15, 20 minutes and just watch and learn. I’ve learned everything from Lance on this boat. Just watch him and listen to him,” Rory said. “Maybe toward the last part of the summer of 2009, Lance played a joke on me. He said, ‘I’m going to be on the boat, but I’m going to be out of your hair. I’m not going to be up here. You can do your thing.’ I had probably over a hundred people on the boat. As I was backing on the dock, I looked down and Lance was on the dock waving at me. That was my first cruise.”

Mike first got involved as a captain of the Queen II nine years ago in a very similar way to Lance.

“I had a neighbor that was working at the park and I asked her, I said if they were looking for another captain by any chance. My

grandparents had a place up here in Terrace Park, and I’ve been around boats all my life,” Mike said. “My neighbor told me that they were looking for another captain.”

Since there are so many cruises each day, the three captains split the shifts. When it is their turn to captain, they also have crew on the boat with two deckhands who have a myriad duties.

The Queen II takes out about 150 people at a time and they are responsible for the safety of the passengers. It’s their job to determine if it is safe to take the boat out if there is a weather or a mechanical issue. They also make sure that the boat is clean and presentable.

All the captains agree that piloting the Queen II isn’t anything like driving a normal boat on the Iowa Great Lakes.

“It’s a lot different from driving your own pleasure boat. It reacts slowly, plus all the power comes off the back. It is tall and narrow, and the wind really affects the bow. There’s no thrusters on there, so everything comes off the back. That’s why it’s quite difficult. You don’t just learn it overnight because every departure and landing is different. It reminds you of flying an airplane.” Lance said.

The three captains enjoy the challenge of captaining the 85-ton boat on a regular day, but the stories they tell the most are about the times when things didn’t go exactly according to plan.

“How should I say it? Some of our most fun memories are when the weather has caught us out a bit or we’ve had mechanical issues,” Lance said. “Because of the elevation that we’re on. Most days are windy. Never a dull moment.”

“Somebody asked me one day what’s this thing like to dock on a windy day, and I said, ‘Take a sheet of four by eight plywood and hold it out on a windy day.’ It can be that way,” Mike said.

Rory tells a story about the time the steering went out on the boat and he just went around in circles until he could get the mechanical problems worked out. Then, when Rory was working as a deckhand and Lance was the captain in the wheelhouse, they tell about the time when the wind caught the Queen II before she left on an excursion and she was sitting sideways between the two docks on the pier.

They also love getting to meet and know the people on board.

“I really enjoy every year, seeing the same people come back for cruises, you got people that get married on here and then they come back for their anniversary every year,” Rory said. “You start seeing these faces come back. Then you start to build relationships with them. I found out the other day that there’s another couple that drive their boat over here to ride the boat and go home.”

In fact, Mike was one of those who got married on the Queen II. He got married on July 23, 2016. Rory was his crew and Lance captained the boat that night.

“Another thing that’s interesting too is that some of the people that we get out here, we’ve had people from all over the world,” Lance said. “You meet some very interesting people.”

But there is one thing that the captains all wish would change.

“One challenge we face is the weekend boat traffic. I would say about 90 percent of the people out there don’t know the rules,” Lance said.

“And it always happens that some one in a boat is pulling their kid in a tube behind it and they go right in front of us. And don’t you know, that’s when the kid falls off the tube. We don’t have brakes,” Mike said.

“They’re supposed to be good distance from the Queen. They fall off the tube right in front of you. We’ve had to put it in reverse as we’re going forward to try to stop this thing,” Lance said.

While at times stressful and challenging, captaining the Queen II is a pleasure that all three men enjoy and the Queen II and her passengers have always made it back safely to shore.

When you board the Queen II this summer for a tour of the lake and a history lesson to go along with it, know that you are in good hands with Lance, Rory or Mike up in the captain’s wheelhouse.

Abundant sunshine. High 79F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph..

A clear sky. Low near 60F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.

Updated: August 31, 2023 @ 2:25 pm