Had a bit of excitement today that I was not expecting. 13yo was wakeboarding and dropped the rope so I circled back to get him. We get to him and he says he wants to keep going but in the other direction due to getting close to the dam and the water being so cold. I had shut off the engine as I thought he was done and the wind was heavy and was blowing the boat on top of him. I tell the 11yo to get the rope so I don't run over it and of course he can't pay attention to anything for more than ten seconds and starts talking about how crowded the lake is and we should keep going to the damn. I ask him if the rope is good and he says yes so I back up to get away from 13 year old and end up running over the rope and it gets stuck in the propeller.
Go to the glove box to get the knife and of course it's not there. 13yo tries to untangle but can't, so I get in the water and immediately go into shock/can't breathe due to the water being so cold so get out. 13yo starts cutting the rope using channel locks.
We're about 30 feet from a dock of a nice house and several people were on the dock so I told the 11yo to go swim to the dock and ask the guy if we can borrow a knife. Guy on the dock asks if we want to instead get the boat on his lift and I gladly accept. By the time they got their boat out of the lift we drifted about 100 yards down so he ended up getting his jet ski and towed me over.
We get the boat up on the lift, I get in the water and make my way around and the rope is only around one propeller blade and twisted. In less than a minute I have it untangled and off the propeller, but of course it's already ruined by my kid trying to cut it so it's trashed. I ask how I can repay the dude and he says you can't do a thing for me, just pay it forward and help someone else out with boat trouble. So someone somewhere has help coming from me without question, not that I wouldn't have done it anyway.
Looked through the truck and garage and can't find my knife I keep on the boat, now starting to wonder if some kids in the neighborhood swiped it.
Realize now the biggest mistake I made was not dropping anchor immediately once I knew the rope was tangled, we could have easily washed up on dirt or into a boat dock. Second is not making sure I have a knife on board at all times. Third is not telling kid to be quiet and mind the rope.