Bone-Headed Boaters at the Boat Docks

[r2u2]

As a float tuber I get to witness a whole lot of boater bozos without them even noticing me...mostly.  And there have been a lot of times when I have helped boaters get properly launched or trailered...sometimes with expressed gratitude.  Other times not so much.

There have been several times when I have served to retrieve improperly  secured boats that drifted away from the docks while the owner was parking their vehicle.  One of the choicest was on Magic Reservoir in Idaho.  While kicking strenuously to get back in...during a strengthening offshore breeze...I heard the sound of water slapping behind me.  I turned around just in time to grab the bow line of a small boat that had blown free from a poor tie down job.  Just about got a hernia (or hisnia) dragging that boat back the couple of hundred yards to where the owner was waiting on the dock.  As I handed him the rope he muttered something that sounded like "thanks", and then jumped in his boat and boogied.


Best "payback" happened late one sunny morning at the south marina of Willard.  I had a pretty good morning fishing but had to be back earlier than usual.  As I was methodically kicking my way to the ramp I heard giggling and derisive laughter.  A big wakeboard boat full of barely teens was looking my way and evidently had some clever things so say about my lowly craft.  They had been waiting for the "skipper"...hardly shaving age...to get down to the boat from the truck.  He got in, they cast off the ropes and hit the starter.  We all know that sound when there is not enough juice to kick over the starter.  Click-click-click.  The really bad news is that a building easterly breeze was moving Daddy's boat full of kids out toward the opening to the lake.  With nobody else around to render assistance, TubeDude to the rescue.  I kicked around to the front of the big heavy boat, reached up for the bow line and began the tedious kick back to the dock.  From that point on I did not hear a sound from any of the passengers.  Nary a peep.  Even when I got them close enough to the dock for someone to get out and secure them there was no "Gee thanks" or anything.  But I already had my reward...establishing my "ascendancy".

On one occasion I was privileged to witness the all too common scenario of a husband in the boat screaming directions (and obscenities) at his wife trying to back a trailer down on a busy ramp.  I ran up to the truck and had the wife slide over while I completed the maneuver...pulling the boat up out of the water to the prep area.  The wife thanked me profusely and suggested that I may have just saved their marriage.  Wonder what happened "the next time".

Pat, you didn't tell them of the time I launched the banana boat  leaving the paddle on the dock. Glad I had some one there to cry for help.

[Kent]

As some of you know, I had the ultimate embarrassing experience, so I will keep quiet and just admit to leaving the plug out a few times and forgetting to unhook the tie-down straps.

[utwalleye]

Yep sitting at any boat ramp on holiday weekends you will get a lot of laughs and maybe a fight or 2 and even a divorce. Here’s my story from Ut lake London marina, me and my friend were fishing just out from the boat ramp. A guy pull down to launch, backed in and unhooked his boat and noticed he forgot his plug. He jumped back in his truck and hit the gas and bang his boat came off the trailer and now sitting on the cement. Hope that was not any of you guys lol.

[MrShane]

Friendly reminder:
I work on a lot of trailers for friends.
If you forget your plug and fill your boat partially with water, when you put boat back on trailer to pull out to install plug...... pull boat out very slowly and allow boat to drain, water is very heavy and a boat full of it sitting on a usually borderline rated trailer will result in double embarrassment with a trip to the axle shop.

[a_bow_nut]

Boneheaded things don't stop at the ramp.

Learned a hard lesson down at Powell last fall.







All that for this picture.

[Tin-Can]

Forrest, I'll be at the north marina, probably early afternoon when it's a bit warmer. I don't plan to fish at all, it's "motor break-in" day so it'll just be two hours of cold boat ride.

   Rocky, NWS forecast for Wednesday shows sunny, high in low 50's, winds ESE 10 to 15. If you would like a deck hand / passenger I could meet you at the marina.  I'll bring my own PFD    .

PM sent

[RockyRaab2]

I'll see you there.

[Tin-Can]

So far, in the almost 17 years I've owned a boat, I've forgotten my plug once, forgotten to remove the stern straps once, and 2 or 3 times I've unknowingly hit my motor kill switch and spent a few head scratching minutes wondering why won't it start...

But I think my favorite day on the water in the category of watching other "Bonehead boaters" was on a July 4th weekend. 
The weather that weekend was perfect, warm, clear, light breeze out of the south east. But it had been a low snow pack winter and by late June many lakes were at very low water levels. Willard Bay, south marina was just about nothing but a mud bed so I figured the low water level would keep most of the bigger power squadron away. 

I launched out of the north marina at just after the gate opened about 6:30 a.m. I didn't really have any specific plan for the day, so just past the buoys I just started trolling various lures at varied speeds kind of meandering towards the far west wall.
After a couple hours of no joy on the trolling, I dropped anchor out over the Kitty Condos out off Eagle Beach in about 4 fow, put out 2 lines and kicked back. The Catfish action wasn't non stop, but regular enough to keep me on that same spot.  

Any boater that is familiar with Willard Bay should know that when coming out of the north marina, the rock jetty on the north edge of the channel goes out a ways. During high water times, a shallow draft boat like mine can make a right turn out of the channel and clear the jetty rocks easily. But heavier, deeper draft boats should get well out past the buoy line. 
So their I sit, catching and releasing Catfish and I hear behind me the sound of a bigger boat somewhere not too far off. Just as I turn to look, I hear the most gosh awful crunching and grinding noise.  The young lady operator, instead of chopping the throttle, gives it more gas and forces the 21' Moomba over the rock jetty that is only less than 2 feet under the surface.  She got the boat over the rocks, but then the motor quit.  I sat about 50 yards away and watched for several minutes as she tried in vain to restart the motor. I could see her bewildered look, so I figured, even when the situation is created totally by inexperience, or even abject stupidity, I needed to render aid. I pulled in my lines, brought in my anchor, tilted my little 15hp Merc up into shallow drive, and slow backed up to within about 10 feet of her. I asked (a stupid question) if she needed some help. Her answer was, "I don't know what happened, it just quit and I can't get it started, and my boyfriend is gonna kill me". 
Well I tossed her my tow line, had her tie it off to the bow cleat (that I had to show her what a cleat was, and where the bow was) and I slowly towed her back to the north marina dock.  While I helped her tie up to the dock, I asked her if the boat had a sonar so she could see when it was getting shallow.  Her reply "Oh, I wasn't fishing, so I didn't turn the fish finder on".  I just really didn't expect that, and had no reply that I thought she would understand, so I left. 

OK, I figured that was my good Samaritan deed for the day and headed back to the Kitty Condos. Another hour out there with no action and decided to call it a day.  So I get back into the north marina, and of course the ramp and docks are jammed with boats coming and going.  I pull back away from the ramp toward the south jetty area, and wait my turn out of everyone's way.  On the ramp, I see an old Chevy Suburban with an even older tri-hull on a trailer. There are 2 guys in the boat, and 1 guy driving the Chevy. The driver is backing down the ramp at a higher than safe speed, just at the right spot he slams on the breaks and the boat comes off the trailer, and into the water in a perfect "power launch".  But that spectacular show on the ramp quickly changed to embarrassment. The 2 guys in the boat couldn't get it started, and obviously were not well acquainted with Willard Bay north marina. Not too far off the north marina ramp there is a "hump". When there is plenty of water in the lake, that hump may be 10 or 12 feet under the surface and isn't noticed or a concern.  But at low water levels, that hump can be anywhere from 2 feet under water to even exposed.  
Well the combination of low water conditions, boat not starting, and the show off "power launch" allowed the boat to ground right on top of that hump. The 2 guys in the boat actually got out of the boat, into mid calf to waist deep water and tried pushing it off the hump. They couldn't budge it.  All other boats coming and going around them just laughed and continued on.  
OK, Tin-Can, smallest boat with smallest motor currently in the area, tossed them the tow rope, and with the added motor power pulling, and the 2 guys in the water pushing, we got the boat off the hump. I towed it to the dock, 2nd one in less than 2 hours. And since I was leaving anyway, as I tied up to the dock, I asked the Chevy driver "Don't they have a sonar in that boat"  And you will never guess what his reply was..........   That's when my long held suspicion that many big boat owners have more boat than brains. 

[Kent]

All that for this picture.

Nice picture!

[PACKFAN]

I sometimes get a laugh out of a YouTube channel that shows videos of the tragicomedy of certain boaters at the Miami boat docks where boats are bashed, trailers bent, folks fall in the water, cars get stuck, and sometimes vehicles slip beneath the waves (it all certainly makes me feel better about my stupid mistakes).

We keep our boat at Strawberry, and I try to be all about getting in and out of the water as fast as possible, so I don't see or notice much unusual.

Are Utah boaters more skilled than those in Miami, or have I just missed seeing when things go wrong on the boat dock?

I'd be interested in hearing stories about "strange things afoot" at the Utah boat launches.

[kandersonSLC]

Even when I got them close enough to the dock for someone to get out and secure them there was no "Gee thanks" or anything.  But I already had my reward...establishing my "ascendancy".

It's no excuse, but I wonder if folks are just too embarrassed to know how to offer a proper thanks. Hopefully your good deed encourages them to pass it on one day and give someone a tow.

[gofish435]

This has been interesting reading.

It makes my blunders getting in and out of my old round float tube seem insignificant.

I know if I've left my plug out.

[TubeDude]

This has been interesting reading.

It makes my blunders getting in and out of my old round float tube seem insignificant.

I know if I've left my plug out.

Yeah, let's not even get started on all the crazy stuff we see when someone first tries to launch in a float tube.  No trailers or backing down, but the mere act of getting into an inflatable craft seems to destroy equilibrium.  Can't count the number of times I have witnessed "splashdowns" on launching or beaching...and not limited to newbies.

[Tin-Can]

Even when I got them close enough to the dock for someone to get out and secure them there was no "Gee thanks" or anything.  But I already had my reward...establishing my "ascendancy".

It's no excuse, but I wonder if folks are just too embarrassed to know how to offer a proper thanks. Hopefully your good deed encourages them to pass it on one day and give someone a tow.

   Don't know if it's embarrassment, poor up-bringing or what.  I've towed maybe a couple dozen boats back in to various docks.  And every time I do, I remember my dad (Merchant Marine) and one uncle (USN) relating sea stories from both war and peace time. And one fairly constant rule they lived by, render aid to vessels in trouble. Some day it may be you that needs the help.  
I've had about an even split of those that were appreciative, a few even offered to pay me, which I ALWAYS decline, and those that never said so much as a mumbled "thank you".