Story: How not to launch a boat.

I've gotten a little out of order with my anectdotes. I last told about my fateful voyage under the bridge from Penrose state park to Gig Harbor. Now, I'd like to go back in time to my first great episode with the boat (and also my first hint that no one is truly and expert when it comes to boats). I'd like to tell you how we got our boat into the water in the first place.

When my partner - not my spouse mind you. In my stories, my partner is my partner in boat ownership. When my partner bought the boat, it was sitting on a custom build wooden cradle which, in turn, sat on a flat bed trailer. The boat was tied to the cradle, and the cradle was tied to the trailer.

Being working men, we scheduled a time to do this, and then had to do it at that time. Time, and tides both play a factor in this. Time, because we picked about the worst time to do this. Tides, because it was the low, low tide that made it the worst time. Let me explain.

At low tide, the water barely reaches the end of the boat ramp. In fact, in really low tides, it may not reach the boat ramp. We had water on the boat ramp, but not much. Recall how the boat was mounted on the trailer; it was quite high in the air. Thus, we need to back the trailer out fairly far into the water in order to float the boat off. The low tide, didn't really give us much room to do that in. Nevertheless, being enthusiastic, and committed, we made a plan.

The plan was to tie the hitch of the trailer to the front bumper of the truck and slowly lower the boat into the water. Why the rope? Because the truck would be too far into the water before the boat could float off. Why the front bumper? So the driver could see better what he (me) was doing.

My partner climbed into the boat (via a ladder) to be ready to motor it to the city dock across the harbor. I got in the truck and proceeded to lower the boat into the water. At this point things happened quickly.

Whether the rope was cut by the bumper, or the weight of the boat was too strong for the rope, I'm not sure, but the rope broke and the trailer went careening down the ramp (partner on top) and into the water. It was riding very low because the boat was still tied to the cradle which was still tied to the trailer; a trailer we didn't own. The water was much too cold for me to wade out and try and pull them close to shore to get the trailer. There was only one course of action...

CC cut the rope. The trailer dropped to the sea floor, but the cradle wouldn't budge. It took another 20-30 minutes of my partner fighting with it, before it finally floated free from the underside of the boat.

To make a long story short, some fishermen happened to be motoring by and kindly helped us get the cradle to shore. Then they spent a bit of time, trolling for the trailer, which they found and hauled to shore as well. My partner in the meantime, motored to the other side.

The moral of the story. If you are uneasy about an idea, don't trust the experts, trust your instinct.

The End