- Joined
- May 29, 2003
- Messages
- 19,126
Wife and I are childless for the week, so yesterday we took advantage and headed to the lake. GREAT time!
When we got there a Blazer with boat was jostling around on the ramp. A guy was out yelling at the driver and I thought, "Oh no, not one of these jerks!"
They waved us by to put in our boat and cleared the area. While my wife was taking the Denali and trailer to the parking lot I listened. Here a dad was teaching his teenage son handle the boat and trailer on the launch ramp. At one point he looked at me and winked, so I went to talk to him. He told me his son was starting to ask if he could take friends on the boat, so he had to learn to handle it in pressure situations. On a busy Saturday there could be jerks that would give him a rough time and he had to stay cool under pressure, so he best learn on a quiet Thursday with dear old dad providing the theatrics.
Kid was handling it well, but having a bit of trouble getting the trailer to go where he wanted. I told the father to have the son grasp the steering wheel on the bottom and move his hand the way he wanted the back of the trailer to go. Dad looked at me, said, "I don't know if I want to confuse him." Then he backed his "imaginary" rig down the ramp with his hand on the bottom of the imaginary wheel, thanked me, and proceeded to go have a chat with his son.
As we motored away from the ramp I could see the son doing better and the dad was smiling. Neat to see this Dad working with his son to make him an ace boater and courtious on the launch ramp.
When we got there a Blazer with boat was jostling around on the ramp. A guy was out yelling at the driver and I thought, "Oh no, not one of these jerks!"
They waved us by to put in our boat and cleared the area. While my wife was taking the Denali and trailer to the parking lot I listened. Here a dad was teaching his teenage son handle the boat and trailer on the launch ramp. At one point he looked at me and winked, so I went to talk to him. He told me his son was starting to ask if he could take friends on the boat, so he had to learn to handle it in pressure situations. On a busy Saturday there could be jerks that would give him a rough time and he had to stay cool under pressure, so he best learn on a quiet Thursday with dear old dad providing the theatrics.
Kid was handling it well, but having a bit of trouble getting the trailer to go where he wanted. I told the father to have the son grasp the steering wheel on the bottom and move his hand the way he wanted the back of the trailer to go. Dad looked at me, said, "I don't know if I want to confuse him." Then he backed his "imaginary" rig down the ramp with his hand on the bottom of the imaginary wheel, thanked me, and proceeded to go have a chat with his son.
As we motored away from the ramp I could see the son doing better and the dad was smiling. Neat to see this Dad working with his son to make him an ace boater and courtious on the launch ramp.
