“You’re the ramp guy in that Youtube video” the waiter laughed as he seated Joe (not his real name for obvious reasons) in a window seat in the corner of the restaurant.
He had asked for an out of the way table, so no one would see him.
Joe’s day had started out perfectly.
He had planned and prepared for his first fishing trip of the season and eagerly towed his boat and trailer to the ramp, in anticipation of his first catch.
This is when everything changed.
After lining up the trailer, and multiple attempts, he finally got the trailer wheels wet in the correct position on the ramp. He stepped out of his truck to survey his progress and take a deep breath after the challenges getting this far. To his delight, he hadn’t hit anything and finally, the boat was the right distance to the dock, so he climbed back into his truck.
He carefully backed into the water until his back truck wheels were wet, pulled on the emergency brake, again put it in park, stepped out, waded out into the water to within an inch of the top of his rubber boots to reach the winch, un-cranked the winch and released the bow. BAM! Instantly, it popped up off the winch yoke like a cork flying out of a champagne bottle.
As the boat popped vertically out of the yoke, he jumped back to avoid getting hit with the bow. But, it hit his forehead and knocked him down. As he did a quick step dance to keep his balance, he ended up in the water. As his boots filled up with ice cold water, “Yeow! That’s cold” screamed out of his mouth.
An old salt on the launch ramp dock could hardly contain his laughter as he shouted “Hey Buddy, your transom straps are still on.” Joe didn’t need this as he was already embarrassed enough.
The trailer straps holding down the transom to the trailer were pulling the transom under water and it was good old buoyancy that popped the bow up knocking him over into the water.
Now what? From here, it got worse and worse and worse. The cell-phone-tauting audience gathered on the dock, was recording every second of his humiliating, frustrating experience. He would never live this down.
Before Joe could empty his boots, haul the boat, disconnect the transom straps, and re-launch the boat, there were several videos of his performance playing around the world on youtube.
Joe’s day just couldn’t get any worse.
He wishing he had stayed in bed and slept in.
Avoid Youtube fame!
Be knowledgeable and prepared BEFORE you get to the ramp!
Download your copy of “Ramping your Boat” and “Docking Your Single Outboard” e-lessons today.
