Houseboats

Boats docked at Slaughterhouse Island. 2006 Some people chillin on houseboats. A view of some of the boats.

Houseboats refers to the much anticipated Greek community's annual houseboating trip during Memorial Day weekend. Quite possibly the most insane, fun, exciting, AMAZING weekend ever is when thousands of college kids gather at Lake Shasta for 4 days and 3 nights of complete drunken debauchery. However, houseboating is not restricted to that weekend alone - getting a group together and renting out one, two, or even three houseboats can be an amazing time, too.

Apparently if you don't have a near death experience while house boating (i.e. passing out in an innertube and falling off, only to be noticed by another reviler who dives in and saves you, or misjudging the hop from houseboat to houseboat and crack your head etc) you are doing it wrong (or at least that is the mentality it seems everyone has, I myself have never been) —StevenDaubert

Also the reason so many girls and boys fill the ARC in May is with hopes of achieving their ideal "Houseboat-ready" bod. Girls are in bikinis the entire time so preparations must be made months in advance.

Necessities: flotation devices, at least 4 kegs per boat, hamburgers, hot dogs, kraft singles, and beer bongs. lots and lots of beer bongs.

If you're in the greek community chances are all your friends will be there, so you better get on a boat quick!!!

Death is fairly common, given the most excellent combination of alcohol + water + party atmosphere. Since at least one reveler dies every year (not always from Davis), providing a "safe boat" has been a campaign goal of student government officers for a while. However, it is fairly unlikely to happen, because the University doesn't want to assume legal liability for drunk people. Thanks, Risk Management!
*UPDATE: This goal has been accomplished thanks to the support of ASUCD and Onsite Medical Service creating the first Safe Boat for 2008 and 2009, planned for 2010.

• Deaths: 1
  

• Houseboats on Slaughterhouse Island Friday night: 175
  

• Houseboats rented on Lake Shasta Friday night: 200

The University Covenant Church youth groups also go houseboating on Lake Shasta, probably with slightly different activities.

Insert your crazy houseboats story here

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Although it's a wonderful time, I must say that houseboats is EXTREMELY dangerous. I'm not talking about sexual assault or fighting. The potential for serious injury or death is simply astounding. I almost died last year when I was really drunk and sleep deprived, tried to climb down the top of my boat, and ended up falling off the side and hitting my throat against the steel railing around the lower deck. Fortunately, I hit the soft spot between my chin and adam's apple, but I narrowly missed crushing my windpipe or breaking my jaw. Another silver lining to this story is the fact that I hit the rail rather than fall into the piss/beer/reservoir water stew that surrounds the island we were docked at. I have many more gruesome stories, but I'll let someone else take over.

Ditto on the weekend being hands down the best weekend ever. My near death experience came when I apparently decided it would be a good idea to bring some beer on an inner tube and just float. Well I kind of started passing out and luckily some people on my boat saw that I was slowly sinking through the middle of the tube on my way to the bottom of the lake and they lassoed me in. Thanks guys. Also a guy on our boat passed out and fell through the top floor hole to the kitchen while we were playing our 6 a.m. Souza game.

Haha I think I heard about the guy falling through the hole on your boat JJ. I obtained the houseboat nickname of "floater" because I too thought it would be a fantastic idea to bring beer on an inter tube and just float all weekend (its genius, except when you pass out haha). I heart houseboats because you basically get to party hop all weekend but instead of a DD all you need is a flotation device! I did manage to find the A-phi senior boat and order them to "chief me" and wake up with permanent marker all over my body with no clue why, ruin 70% of my houseboats clothes (aka everything besides my bikini), play more rounds of 7-11 doubles than i've ever played in my life, pass out every night by 8pm, lose my boat 10 times and have a random guy escort me back each time, and not remember a good solid portion of Saturday afternoon. My near death experience happened when I was straddling a log and just toppled over into the water. Luckily someone saw me and was able to sit me up-right again.

• There was a Saturday that weekend? Hmmmmmmmmm
  

Dateline Houseboats 2005:

Another Ore. student dies at Lake Shasta

The accident happened about 4:30 Sunday afternoon. Meyer was pulled from the water by other students with diving gear who were staying on the island. He was taken by helicopter to Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding where he was pronounced dead.

I'm sure you would have seen the AIR-MED helicopter land on the island Sunday Afternoon, assuming you weren't allready passed out!!

2006-11-08 17:06:48   I saw some peeps loading up at Aggie for housebots, 14 kegs... —StevenDaubert

2008-05-20 20:32:16   Im surprised more people from Chico don't make the trip. My first trip was in 07 and only because my friends are redding locals, so we went on a couple of aluminum boats and camped a little bit away from slaughterhouse. The very first night walking around on the shore i managed to sprain my ankle ... but i kept it real and hobbled around all weekend.

Virtually everyone who has died as a result of houseboating has done so soley due to their own stupidity / overintoxication —slammin211s

2008-08-24 15:16:08   Be careful, kiddies! It's all fun and games until someone gets raped or killed. —CurlyGirl26

2009-06-16 03:33:03   You go into Housboats a virgin, you come out a sinner. —HarrisonNoah