I have read a few of the stories about rude and stupid people at the docks. Here's mine.
My wife and I had just gone for our first little joy ride after installing a new engine in our boat. Very pleasant little run, but too short. Anyway, we are coming back in to retrieve the boat and go home. T%he launching facility has two ramps. One has about a 70 or 80 foot dock, and the other has maybe 25 feet of dock. Most people that launch use the short dock, and people retrieving use the long dock. This is not a rule by any means, just what usually happens when traffic is light like this day.
Anyway, when we come in there is one boat that is smack dab in the middle of the long dock, and there are 5 or 6 women aboard ranging in ages from . . .say . . .20 thru say 60. They are just sitting there talking and drinking (and this is somewhere around 11 in the morning). I asked them if they were launching or retrieving and they said that they were just waiting for someone to bring the jet skis to launch and they would probably be gone in a few minutes. Since my wife and I were in no hurry, we pulled in behind them so they could have the ramp to launch their jet skis.
Since the short dock was in fairly regular use by people launching, and we were not in a hurry, we waited. After about 10 minutes a truck comes driving along the access road that was parallel to the dock, and stops abeam the boat in front of us. In the middle of the access road, I might add. The women let us know that these were the jet skis that they were waiting for so it shouldn't be much longer. Fine! But wait!! He isn't launching the jet skis, he is just now getting around to starting them and making sure they will run. And right on schedule, one of them will not start.
*&%^$@^! Short ramp is still in regular use so we continue to wait.
After about 10 minutes one of the women in the boat yells up to one of the men working on the jet skis "Honey? There's a lot of water in here. Did you put the plug in?" The man yells a good stream of expletives and tells the women " "Get out of the boat! NOW!" Guess that means he did NOT put the plug in. Sigh . . . more waiting. Now I will have to admit that I could have just moved over to the other side and been on my way a time or two, but we were not in a hurry and I was getting curious as to just how long this was going to go on, and what might happen next.
The marina operator, seeing (and hearing) what is going on, holds up vehicular traffic so the guy can unhook the trailer for the jet skis (still in the middle of the road, but since his boat is sinking I guess I can give him that one), go hook up his boat trailer, and get to the ramp to get his boat out. He backs down the ramp, gets the boat on the trailer, and pulls up. Just enough to get the boat out of the water so the water can drain out. He doesn't clear the ramp, just gets the boat out of the water. Now I know that water had been running into the boat for at least 15 minutes and I never did see any stream of water like a bilge pump might produce, so I presume he was going to leave the boat on the ramp for at least that long. *&%$@
I tell my wife to get the boat hook out because I was going to try and push our boat over to the other side since it was clear at the moment. Needed the boat hook because I would be pushing against the wind and current. I gave it a push and the boat got just close enough so my wife could catch a cleat with the boat hook and got it pulled over. As soon as I saw that my boat was secure I went and got my truck and pulled our boat out. When we had cleared the ramp, we leisurely started securing everything. Leisurely because we wanted to see just how long those people were going to tie up the ramp. We were out of the way so we were not causing any delays, etc. We never did get an answer.
We took at least another 10 minutes to get everything secure and finally couldn't stand it any more and we left. So after tieing up the ramp for AT LEAST 20 minutes, and probably more like 30, they were still there and still had not begun to launch the jet skis yet.
Nice preparation people!
Wayne
My wife and I had just gone for our first little joy ride after installing a new engine in our boat. Very pleasant little run, but too short. Anyway, we are coming back in to retrieve the boat and go home. T%he launching facility has two ramps. One has about a 70 or 80 foot dock, and the other has maybe 25 feet of dock. Most people that launch use the short dock, and people retrieving use the long dock. This is not a rule by any means, just what usually happens when traffic is light like this day.
Anyway, when we come in there is one boat that is smack dab in the middle of the long dock, and there are 5 or 6 women aboard ranging in ages from . . .say . . .20 thru say 60. They are just sitting there talking and drinking (and this is somewhere around 11 in the morning). I asked them if they were launching or retrieving and they said that they were just waiting for someone to bring the jet skis to launch and they would probably be gone in a few minutes. Since my wife and I were in no hurry, we pulled in behind them so they could have the ramp to launch their jet skis.
Since the short dock was in fairly regular use by people launching, and we were not in a hurry, we waited. After about 10 minutes a truck comes driving along the access road that was parallel to the dock, and stops abeam the boat in front of us. In the middle of the access road, I might add. The women let us know that these were the jet skis that they were waiting for so it shouldn't be much longer. Fine! But wait!! He isn't launching the jet skis, he is just now getting around to starting them and making sure they will run. And right on schedule, one of them will not start.
*&%^$@^! Short ramp is still in regular use so we continue to wait.
After about 10 minutes one of the women in the boat yells up to one of the men working on the jet skis "Honey? There's a lot of water in here. Did you put the plug in?" The man yells a good stream of expletives and tells the women " "Get out of the boat! NOW!" Guess that means he did NOT put the plug in. Sigh . . . more waiting. Now I will have to admit that I could have just moved over to the other side and been on my way a time or two, but we were not in a hurry and I was getting curious as to just how long this was going to go on, and what might happen next.
The marina operator, seeing (and hearing) what is going on, holds up vehicular traffic so the guy can unhook the trailer for the jet skis (still in the middle of the road, but since his boat is sinking I guess I can give him that one), go hook up his boat trailer, and get to the ramp to get his boat out. He backs down the ramp, gets the boat on the trailer, and pulls up. Just enough to get the boat out of the water so the water can drain out. He doesn't clear the ramp, just gets the boat out of the water. Now I know that water had been running into the boat for at least 15 minutes and I never did see any stream of water like a bilge pump might produce, so I presume he was going to leave the boat on the ramp for at least that long. *&%$@
I tell my wife to get the boat hook out because I was going to try and push our boat over to the other side since it was clear at the moment. Needed the boat hook because I would be pushing against the wind and current. I gave it a push and the boat got just close enough so my wife could catch a cleat with the boat hook and got it pulled over. As soon as I saw that my boat was secure I went and got my truck and pulled our boat out. When we had cleared the ramp, we leisurely started securing everything. Leisurely because we wanted to see just how long those people were going to tie up the ramp. We were out of the way so we were not causing any delays, etc. We never did get an answer.
We took at least another 10 minutes to get everything secure and finally couldn't stand it any more and we left. So after tieing up the ramp for AT LEAST 20 minutes, and probably more like 30, they were still there and still had not begun to launch the jet skis yet.
Nice preparation people!
Wayne