"Dave Hall" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 14:15:43 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Dave Hall" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 01 Aug 2004 16:58:47 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:



In my case, "chased in" could be dicey. My 14' yacht will get me
through
anything, but sometimes slowly. But, the worst part is what happens at
the
launch ramp. It's a town ramp, staffed by the most ancient guys you've
ever
seen. With a storm behind me last week, I lined up with a bunch of
other
boats to pull out, and watched as some putz straightened out his boat,
rinsed his fishing buckets and put his canvas in place before pulling
his
boat out. At the same instant, 3 of us started yelling at the guy, and
another boat began blowing its horn. Some old geezer hobbled out of
the
ticket booth and said something to the asshole. He didn't budge.
Finally,
the coolest little Coast Guard boat* cruised in from the inlet, pulled
up
behind the guy, said something, and he was out of the water in about 8
seconds. Afterward, 3 of us were out in under 5 minutes, by helping
each
other. It also helped to chase all the dumb sightseers off the dock,
especially two enormously fat ladies who thought it was helpful to
make
the
floating dock list at a 30 degree angle.


Argh! Don't you hate that? As much as our political leans may differ,
on the issue of launch ramp antics, we're in 100% agreement. My goal
is to be on and off the ramp in under 3 minutes. My wife and I work as
a team. She handles the boat, while I handle the tow vehicle. When I
line up the trailer and back it in the water, she's already heading
in. I reach the back of the truck to give her some directional hand
signals, and she glides it right on. I hook up the winch and snug it
down, and pull out.

There are a great many people who just don't get it. Some are
clueless, and others just seem to lack basic skills.

Dave

I can do it in less than 5 minutes ALONE.

What I want to see on the dock is a sign: "If you see boats here and you
don't own a boat, get the **** off the dock".

You just hit another nerve. At one of my frequent haunts, the locals
like to use the boat dock to fish from. Then they have the nerve to
get upset when they have to move their lines to accommodate an
incoming boat. It's not like there isn't hundreds of feet of shore
line to fish from. But I guess they prefer concrete.

I'd also like a 10 foot fence for 100' on either side of the launch to
keep
people from visiting with the ducks. I love ducks, but all the duck
snacks
also attract geese. You should see what this launch looks like at the end
of
a busy Sunday.

I know, because I see it too. I don't know what's worse, the geese
congregating at the ramp, or the little rug-rats of the aforementioned
dock fishermen swimming off of the ramp (while you're trying to back
down).


It's as if someone sprayed goose **** intentionally. A solid
mat of it. A block away are 4 places that sell ice cream, and the patrons
love to walk around the boat launch. Result: A carpet of goose ****
combined
with melted glops of ice cream all over the place.

I guess it's universal then.


Fortunately, I close on my house within a week. There's a largely unknown
(and undeveloped) boat launch 4 blocks away, and it's got a great feature
that's been there for years: A really evil underwater dip on one side,
which
grabs trailers and hangs onto them until the tow truck arrives. I think
once
people experience this, they go to the other end of the same town park
where
there's easier launching, along with all the goose **** and ice cream you
can eat. Luckily, I know where the evil dip is. :-)

Hopefully, it never shifts......


Dave


Wow. I thought you were going to tell me that goose **** is fertilizer and
that I should lighten up.