Make the jump!

[danf1000]

Just swang for a new boat here here, had a 17 footer some years ago.

Stopped off at the dock and dropped the straps, placed the plug, unhooked the safety chain and disconnected the strap. Good to go, right?

backed the truck up, boat bobbles right up and starts sliding backward, and don't stop, just keeps on going......

My 5 year old is having fun.

I brazenly decide to rush down the dock to catch it. Figure out halfway down it's going to require a leap. All 5'-9, 185 lbs, 39, and well past my prime steps off, catches the bow between the ribs and the hips, and struggles aboard. Engine fires right up and this time I secure it up to the dock. Onlookers are giggling.

 

[Tig]

Re: Make the jump!

Thanks for sharing.
If it doesn't already have a name I suggest that this maneuver be called the launch and leap.

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: Make the jump!

Thanks for sharing.
If it doesn't already have a name I suggest that this maneuver be called the launch and leap.

Soon to be known as the L & L Technique.

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Make the jump!

Dan,

The L&L Technique is one painful way to start the day! At least you remembered the plug though. Otherwise you would have been going for a swim too.

Welcome! I will add that it takes a strong person to have their first post here on i-boats as a SHT. Good on ya!

 

[dave11]

Re: Make the jump!

Ain't boating fun?

 

[rrkyle]

Re: Make the jump!

Haha!

First time i took out my significant other in my little aluminum 14 ft i had her sit in the boat as i backed it in gave her the paddle and said when it foats off just paddle up to the bank..

Needless to say she had NEVER been on a boat before and didnt understand paddling and i ended up swimming about 25 yards out to get in the boat.. At least the water wasnt cold.

 

[Tig]

Re: Make the jump!

That would be the Float and Fetch. Or F&F, which is probably what you mumbled as you waded in.

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: Make the jump!

that would be the float and fetch. Or f&f, which is probably what you mumbled as you waded in.

^^^^^^ :d:d

 

[Boatenheimer]

Re: Make the jump!

L and L or F and F

Both are exciting...and funny.

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Make the jump!

lmao..... That put a great visual in my head . glad you caught the boat

 

[dave11]

Re: Make the jump!

Haha!

First time i took out my significant other in my little aluminum 14 ft i had her sit in the boat as i backed it in gave her the paddle and said when it foats off just paddle up to the bank..

Needless to say she had NEVER been on a boat before and didnt understand paddling and i ended up swimming about 25 yards out to get in the boat.. At least the water wasnt cold.

I love that.

 

[mAlton]

Re: Make the jump!

The first time my wife decided she needed to learn how to launch and retrieve the boat, I was standing up in it so she could see me if I needed to tell her to stop (as we all know I was going to have to). She puts the truck into reverse and stands on the gas pretty hard. As I fall forward towards the windshield and catch myself, she realizes what she did and stomps on the brake pedal. I fly onto my back on the floor of the boat (glad it is a large boat). It was hard not saying anything harsh to ruin the first experience for her.

Ironically, when we returned to the dock, she wanted to back the trailer into the water. I said OK, and as she was getting the truck, I was tying off to the dock (because we all know that after 10 tries, I was going to have to take over). As I was tying off, I watched her back it perfectly into the water on the first try. I felt stupid then for tying up in the first place. She does pretty well now, though.

 

[rrkyle]

Re: Make the jump!

Haha I definitely muttered a couple words while swimming and of course it was my fault she couldnt figure out how to paddle!

 

[skargo]

Re: Make the jump!

Did it last year. Cost me a cell phone and a bruised ego...

 

[Tig]

Re: Make the jump!

Well, I shared some of these cute stories with my wife. She was Ok with being amused at a man's solo follies but when I got to rrkyle's story, she did not even smile as she informed me that our boat could not be paddled. I guess I have been warned.

 

[cwhite6]

Re: Make the jump!

My engineering dorkiness would make me refer to these as L squared and F squared!

 

[rrkyle]

Re: Make the jump!

Haha well according to mine neither can a 14 ft aluminum boat!

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: Make the jump!

off topic But...
when Robbie Knievel was jumping stuff a few years ago on TV I asked my wife to set the VCR to tape- -we were going out---we were in a restaurant bar and the Jump was between two tall buildings in Las Vegas- as he is taking off down the ramp I get the wife to watch- she said" I didn't know he was going to use a motorcycle, i thought he would just run and jump!"
she is blond sometimes.

 

[karatejoe]

Re: Make the jump!

The other day I was riding my boat and for some fun amusement I stopped at the marina to watch people launch their boats . This marina has the sheriff, coast gaurd and sea tow all station there.
This guy drops his boat in the water and puts his 5 year old son in the boat with no life jacket on. He pulls it 12 feet away to tie it off so he can move his truck. But not before the sheriff pulls up to him and tickets him for the child not wearing his life jacket. I heard him telling him he just put the boat in the water and had not put the jacket on yet. The officer told him Fl. law requires anyone under 6 years old to be wearing a life flotation device whether the boat is under power or not. And then he proceded to verify other safety items if they were working and or equipped.
Just a thought to remember at the ramp. Besides, we have all seen boats sinking at the ramp or floating away with the captain standing on the trailer.

 

[mtp9302]

Re: Make the jump!

My engineering dorkiness would make me refer to these as L squared and F squared!

Nice work, I love it.

Being new to boating, I find it just as valuable to read the "what to do" expert advice on the other forums as I do reading the "what not to do" real world testing here. My father-in-law and I will be getting our first boat in the water sometime this year, and I only hope that when I perform a SHT (I'm sure it's when, not if) that it's only my ego that suffers and nothing breaks/no one gets hurt...