Water-skiers tend to be superstitious. Tammy McHale skies first every time she and husband Jim go out on Lake Orange in Cedar Grove. After four passes, they switch.
Years ago, while living in New York, the couple decided to pursue water skiing as a family sport. They attended the newly opened Coble Ski School in Lillington in 1996; their boys were 7 and 10. Competitive skiing soon followed. When work relocated the family to North Carolina, the McHales chose Chapel Hill for the schools. They practiced on weekends with a ski club in Sanford and competed all over. Once their sons graduated, Jim and Tammy searched for lakefront property within commuting distance to their UNC jobs. Tammy notes, “If we didn’t ski, we’d have never left Chapel Hill.”
The McHales love living on the lake; every day feels like a vacation. When she retires, Tammy wants to “help the elderly with their financial affairs and every once in a while, I will clean their houses, too.” When asked what he would do if Orange County closed, Jim said, “I am taking my boat and finding another lake.”
