Summer’s hottest drama plays out on lake boat launch ramps

The biggest bang for the buck in terms of sheer entertainment value has to be watching the drama at a launching ramp/dock in heavy traffic.

My son David and I went up to Millerton recently to test out a prop on my new outboard engine. The mistake I made was thinking that going at 9 a.m. on a weekday would be a breeze. I realized my error when I saw the line of over five boats waiting to launch on the lower level, smaller ramp due to the falling lake level.

I had forgotten that in our current paradigm many folks do weekend things during the week now.

The boat line was building as all kinds of watercraft streamed in to get the family in the water. It was a recipe for disaster as the pressure to get on the water and crowd grew. The choke point around the docks was getting clogged as several drivers tried to back down the ramp into the small spaces between currently launching boats and jet skis. The folks who didn’t know how to back down were frantically trying to get their boat into the water – but having all kinds of critical eyeballs watching their every attempt to back down had them flustered. The harder these folks tried, the worse it got.

One poor guy did great getting straightened out, but then the wheels fell off the operation. With his trailer set up to head for the open spot on the ramp about 40 yards below him he began jackknifing his trailer first to the left then the right, pull up, then do it again, and again. He had a couple friends he was trying to take advice from who were as bad as him.

A guy in a nice boat came over to help and got the boat into the water. Good start! Turns out the guy knew how to back a trailer, but not how to launch a boat! He backed the boat completely into the water, floating the boat with the bow still fully connected to the trailer. The owner waded out and tried to unhook the boat, but it was so far in the water that he couldn’t do that. There was no leash rope, either.

Should I get involved? I was close to offering my thoughts when they pulled out and headed for a place to regroup. Good decision. I wondered what might have happened if they actually got in the boat?

I’m sure glad I wasn’t that poor guy. Folks can get pretty testy, and the pressure keeps ramping up with each failure!

Takeaways:

▪ Busy ramps need a designated dock/ramp master as well as a “backer downer.”

▪ A great reality show could be built around the drama that takes place at most ramps in the summer and especially this year. Call it “Roger’s Ramp Wars” (undercover, of course)!

Never give up!

This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 1:05 PM.