Saw a near tragedy tonight...

[nofearengineer]

After I got done with my around the house work today, I decided to grab some mealworms and hit the local pit for a couple of hours. The traffic at the boat ramp was very heavy, as it always is on holiday weekends. A lot of inexperienced boaters come out on those days too, as I soon witnessed.

A guy and his wife launched an 17' aluminum Tracker, in what I can only assumed they thought was a clever way. When they got far enough in the water, she just jerked on the brakes, and he slid off the trailer. I'm not sure what they thought was the benefit of not just floating the boat off. However, this was an omen of what I was to see when they returned to leave for the evening.

They came back, and he let her off at the side of the ramp to go back the trailer in. He then proceeded to motor out and around, totally ignoring the "idle only" signs plastered all over the ramp, throwing up a big wake and making me move back a few feet from my fishing spot.

She got the trailer in, and he races for it, hits it dead center, and then proceeds to do his best to wash away the back of the ramp with his outboard, trying to get as far forward as he can. I soon find out why he is doing this. He does not want to get out to strap the bow up, and the wife doesn't want to get her footsies wet. So he tells her to pull forward, but to "take it slow". This is how I know he did this on purpose.

Of course, the boatstarts to slide back, and she can't hear him screaming for her to stop. When the inexperienced wife finally realizes something is wrong, the boat is only about half on the trailer. I'm thinking "whew".....close one. I'm sure you know what comes next.

Rather than jump out and winch the boat up (and it is just a john after all, it is light enough to do this), he yells at her to put it back in, but once again, "take it slow." Obviously, this guy has put his hand down on a lot of hot stoves, as he seems unable to learn from the past. She starts backing in, but because she is so nervous, she is sort of starting and stopping, and the prop actually digs in to the ramp, due to the angle the boat is hanging off the trailer at.

I'm thinking, okay, she is going to panic, and flip the boat over backwards. Luckily, the guy SCREAMS at her to stop, and she hears him. Finally, the guy comes to his senses, and climbs out of the boat and winches it up. Another "whew" from me. And a "thank you" to the Lord for looking after me in the past year, as I traveled my very own learning curve with my boat. God, I hope I was never that foolish, though I suspect I was at times.