wrote in message
...
I do have a bit of local knowlege so I may be hard on the riffraff but
some people should stay at the dock
Two days in a row I came out of the Estero river and found someone
grinding mud 30 or 40 feet from the channel. The first guy had finally
given up and shut off his motor. I walk over in ankle deep water and
get him aimed at the only 14" deep spot withinn 50 feet and push him
over there. I get the stern in a couple feet of water and tell him to
back out clear then stay in the markers. Nope, He goes forward tried
to make a turn through the mud. I hung a rope on him and towed him
into the channel again, aimed him up the river and turned him loose.
10 seconds later he was in the mud again, 15 feet out of the channel.
I went the other way as he ground his way back into the middle. I
could hear the overheat beeper as I bumped it up to a cruise.
The next day I am coming out the river and I see a guy heading for the
same bar. We are both at idle speed and my wife hollars over that he
better get back in the channel. His arrogant answer "I have a depth
finder"
She asks, "what you got". He says "seven point two feet". She says
that is about 5.65 feet off". The next sound was that old familir
Thump Thump as the skeg drags through the mud and the prop is banging
the bottom. I won't even get started on folks who do not understand
the "stand on vessel" or that you don't have headlights on a boat.



I wonder how much of a headache that second guy's gonna give his mechanic
with complaints about how his depth finder lied to him. Did the instruction
book say "Eliminates the need for common sense! Never get off your fat ass
again to look actually look in the water!"

Reaching one of my favorite pike haunts requires going through a short
stretch of water that's less than a foot deep. Up comes the motor, out come
the oars. I can hear the weeds brushing the hull. Meanwhile, the depth
finder's display starts blinking, which means it's saying "I'm very
confused", and it'll read 37 or 152 feet in these situations. Sticking a
pole in the water confirms that the weeds are telling the truth.

Yes, some people are too stupid to own a boat.