Meet the man who's captained Arnold Park's Queen II for 25 years
ARNOLD'S PARK, Iowa (KCAU) — The Queen II, in Arnold's Park, has been taking locals and tourists out for trips on the water since 1986. For 25 of those years, it's been captained by Lance Freed.
Freed has been delivering that pre-cruise message for 25 years at the helm of the Queen II. When he started 25 years ago, he didn't think he'd do it very long.
'When I started, I told myself, 'Well, I guess I'll give myself four or five years in, and I'll have had my fill of driving the boat and stuff,' and I'm still here 25-years later,' explained Freed.
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He only started driving the boat because of a chance meeting with the original captain of the Queen II, Steve Kennedy, while visiting the Maritime Museum at Arnold's Park.
'I happened to walk by the door where Steve Kennedy was, and he was the curator of the museum at the time. The door was open, and I stuck my head around the corner, and I introduced myself. I asked him a few questions, and I said, 'You would by chance be looking for a captain for the boat.' [They said,] 'As a matter of fact, we are,'' he recalled.
Kennedy said they were, and the rest is history, but there was an adjustment period to learning how to drive a boat the size of the Queen.
Even though Freed farmed between Marcus and Paullina, he had grown up around the lakes and was used to being on the water and handling boats, just not the size of the queen.
'It's entirely different, so I rode with Captain Dean the rest of that summer while he taught me how to maneuver this boat around because it's really touchy, especially with this wind. It's like a big sailboat without sails on it, and it doesn't take much to move the bow either right or left, port or starboard.'
He was able to master driving the Queen eventually, and in 25 years, he estimates he has done about 4,500 trips around West Lake.
According to Freed, he's met many interesting people in his 25 years, and that's what keeps him going.
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'Every cruise is different, and it's that way with the people. You get certain people on. Some are really interested, and they want to find out certain things about the area. They've never been here before, and it's amazing some of these people how they found this place. I get that story once in a while too.' Plus, after all that time, Freed has become an institution at the lakes.
'Even as crews have changed through the years, and people come and ride the boat, seeing someone for 25 years, we have a lot of people that ride regularly. He's been there all through. So they love being able to see the same person and grow
Freed is one of three captains on the Queen and right now, drives the first two cruises of four every day except Thursday and Sunday. Currently, he has no intention of stopping.
'I take one year at a time. I've been lucky my health has been good. I thank the good Lord for that, and I think it's basically up to him.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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