If it wasn't for all the "Darwin Awards" I think I would give up boating.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
Some of the best ones were recently released from the home. Feel free to
contribute.

1) Keuka Lake State Park (NY), two weeks ago: On the ramp adjacent to the
one I was using, captain pulls his 23-ish ft ship out of the water,
forgetting to first lift his outdrive. Interesting noise, and when the
skeg cleared the wet part of the ramp, sound followed by smoke, like if a
highway crew was etching the pavement but forgot to turn on the cooling
water. Nice. Then, he figured maybe he could back it into the water again.
Not. Made more nice sounds, this time a scary creaking sound from the
transom. Pulls it back out again. So....the guy next to me on the other
side runs over and says "Ya know...I have a couple of 2x8s - you could
drive the trailer wheel up on them, and then lift the outdrive". Captain
says "Thanks, but I don't see how that's gonna help". Without waiting for
an explanation, puts truck in gear again and proceeds 200 feet across the
parking lot trailing smoke and sparks. (It was dark - nice light show). No
idea how he resolved the problem.

2) Irondequoit Bay NY, this past Sunday: Two people in their 40s are
standing by their boat, waiting for person #3 to arrive with the trailer.
He arrives. He's the kind of guy who, when you see him on the road, you
say to your kids "When I'm that old, PLEASE take my keys away...please!"
In the process of making 15 approaches, he manages to put on wheel of the
trailer onto the dock, then puts the trailer at a 45 degree angle toward
the adjacent ramp, and other assorted amusements. All other vehicles
pulled away and the person taking $$ kept any newcomers from entering the
hazard zone for the moment. Finally, he was ordered out of his car and a
park employee backed the trailer in, over the objections of one of the 2
statues who were still standing on the dock with the boat, offering
absolutely no guidance to great grandpa.

Amazing.