woodrat
Ensign
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2004
- Messages
- 949
So my brother and I head out of the Shilshole launch in Seattle the other day in search of salmon, and while we are gearing up the boat at the dock, here comes a guy towing an old 70's 'glass runabout with a shiny new downrigger on it. After about ten abortive attempts at backing the boat down to the water, he ends up giving up on getting it straight. Taking up three lanes, with the boat trailer in the water at a crazy cross ramp angle, and the back left corner of his truck almost submerged, he wades out and pushes the boat off. <br /><br />Wow! Even in my early days of launching I never was this good! He is still trying to back his trailer into a parking spot as we head out of the marina, laughing and joking about not wanting to be in line behind him for the haul out.<br /><br />About 7 hours later, we are trolling off Jefferson Head with a couple of fish in the box when my bro elbows me and points to a boat in the distance. Sure enough, that's him! As we are trolling along, he comes up alongside-but not too close, thankfully- and shouts something to us. We turn off the kicker, and what he is shouting is "which way is Shilshole, that way (pointing north) or that way (pointing south)?"<br /><br />Meanwhile, Shilshole Marina can be seen across the sound to the south east, a few miles away and plainly visible in the distance...<br /><br />So, as much as I hate a new government regulation or license requirement, I'm thinking that maybe this boat operator's license thing that Washington has planned... well, maybe its not such a bad idea after all.
