GREAT week at the boat ramps! Them lower Chesapeake boys really know how to roll!

[Philster]

I am completely wiped out from a week's long vacation down on the Chesapeake. I made use of the Cape Charles, VA harbor ramps and the Kiptopeke Park ramps. Cape Chuck is good for three wide. Kiptopeke is goof for two wide... maybe three.

Wow. Just wow. Motels and restaurants that cater to boaters. It's boating heaven, but this is pretty common along the North East and Mid-Atlantic. You came here to read about good ramp experiences.

Six launches and six retrievals of my boat. Fourteen launches and fourteen retrievals of the other families Waverunners and Six launches and six retrievals of a 21' SeaSwirl Striper owned by a friend of my in-laws. I was at the ramps often. I was NEVER disappointed.

Imagine launch ramp heaven, where every other boater ahead of you and behind you knows how/when to get out and prep for the roll down the ramp. Imagine everyone of them having everything ready to go. Everyone had it down to a science. They had ropes when they needed them. Everybody with them knew what to do.

Shout out to all the boys with tags from the following states: PA, VA, NJ, MD, NC, SC, DE

When you head to the mouth of the Chesapeake, add extra salt to yer veins, because you gotta be extra salty to roll with these boys.

(I almost ...almost... fouled a retrieval when some guy started taking pics! Funny thing, one of our kids almost needed stitches, so we wound up in the ER one day down in VA, and the doc says, "I think I have pics of your boat. Were you at Kiotopeke yesterday?"

Sure enough, he's a Scarab fan and snapped some pics. Just waiting for them now.)

I read a lot about bad launch days at a ramp; I had a week of boat launch heaven at two ramps. DelMarVa peninsula rocks.

 

[tnduc]

Re: GREAT week at the boat ramps! Them lower Chesapeake boys really know how to roll!

Sounds like you had a great time. I, too, have saltwater in my veins having grown up on the SC coast. I have never had or seen a moronic incident while launching at a ramp on the coast. Inland lakes, though, are another story .

 

[fat fanny]

Re: GREAT week at the boat ramps! Them lower Chesapeake boys really know how to roll!

I feel yourr pain on the inland lakes. I have only launched therebut never! have launched and not seen someone screw up ( not being cruel ) but if you are'nt ready and or experienced enough @ the ramp you should'nt be operating a boat I have it down to a science 7 minutes from off the trailer to the dock not counting the 3 to 4 minuts rigging and unstrapping and parking the truck. As you can tell I have to do this myself my wife ( the queen) is a spectator by nature.

 

[RWilson2526]

Re: GREAT week at the boat ramps! Them lower Chesapeake boys really know how to roll!

That's funny....a few weeks ago I went out of Sayreville, NJ public ramp... I almost started a thread to say how perfect everything was....it wasnt overly busy but everyone had their act together....boat launches and pulls boat around out of ramp to dock....while he parks truck next boat launches, by timme he's ready to pull boat around to dock, first guys back and slides his boat down one space....he's gone...2nd guy is back from parking truck, slides down one spot, next boat launches....so on an so on....it was like a well orchestrated symphony......

 

[dingbat]

Re: GREAT week at the boat ramps! Them lower Chesapeake boys really know how to roll!

And your dealing with the summer tourist crowd.

Come on back down during Striper season, November-January, and see how it's really done. Boats backed up 50-60 deep, one each side of the ramp, waiting to get on the trailer. Loading down to an art

 

[Philster]

Re: GREAT week at the boat ramps! Them lower Chesapeake boys really know how to roll!

Oh yeah...I heard all about Striper season. Someone painted a very good picture when I was there... showing me how far down the road and how far out the harbor and launch areas the boats would be lined up.

It surely would be a sight to see.

 

[seabob4]

Re: GREAT week at the boat ramps! Them lower Chesapeake boys really know how to roll!

Kingfish Ramp, just across the Manatee Ave. bridge, Anna Maria...about 15 ramps, done all the time...sorry, Bradenton, FL. We can launch and retrieve too!

 

[Philster]

Re: GREAT week at the boat ramps! Them lower Chesapeake boys really know how to roll!

I actually think we are just darn lucky to be coastal -- be it FLA or VA (or New Jersey and Delaware, where I do 90% of my boating).

I read about (bad) ramp drama here and my mental notes usually point out that it's the landlocked guys who are most frustrated. The guys here know how to roll, but seems they get bogged down by the non-boater who owns a boat... time and time again.

Just thought someone should put up a positive thread. Yep, you FLA guys know how to launch/retrieve, now if you'd just learn about winterizing.

 

[Andy'sDelight]

Re: GREAT week at the boat ramps! Them lower Chesapeake boys really know how to roll!

Coastal boaters (such as myself ) tend to be alot more serious about boating being that we are willing to go out into the big, bad ocean. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of yahoos that seem to just dive right into the ocean as well without a clue, but it seems like the ratio is much lower. Alot of non boaters who happen to own a boat feel like lakes are safer, so they tend to congregate there more than the ocean in my experience. The exception are the damn Jet fleas!!!