Write In And Win!

Now’s the time to share your thoughts with Boating World. Got some comments on an article? A great boating story? We want to hear from you! Write to us at editor@boatingworld.com, or c/o Boating World, 2100 Powers Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA, 30339, and if your letter is published in the April or May issue as “Letter of the Month,” we’ll send you West Marine’s Equator III Foul Weather Gear (retail value: $149). Made from three-layer waterproof fabric, this lightweight and breathable jacket makes an ideal layer for any brisk day out on the water. It’ll keep you warm and dry, and it should help to prevent you from making all those crazy cold-weather faces so unique to winter boating. For more information on West Marine’s Equator III Foul Weather Gear, and for the entire lineup of West Marine products, visit www.westmarine.com.

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Letter Of The Month: Comedy Central

I’m a longtime reader of Boating World, and I truly enjoy your magazine. I had to laugh when I read Randy Scott’s January ’08 “Back to Basics” article (“Launch Ramp Etiquette”). I started boating 35 years ago as a young child in Rochester, N.Y., where my father would often bring the family’s Starcraft bowrider to Canandaigua Lake, which is one of the “ finger” lakes. It was always a sight to see all the people at this boat ramp, where the season is relatively short (it runs from May to September up here) and thus, many of the folks are highly inexperienced.


The blunders I saw then are as timeless as the ones I’ve seen here in New Hampshire, where I both live and boat today with my children. Here are the Top 7 biggest blunders of an endless list of launch ramp “d’oh!” moves:
1. Forgetting to put the drain plug in and launching the boat.
2. Successfully launching the boat, but driving all the way to the lake and forgetting the keys.
3. Not tying a good knot to the boat when launching, resulting in the boat floating away.
4. Launching a piece-of-junk boat that won’t start. The person I saw do this then started smoking a cigarette in the engine compartment while beginning to work on the engine.
5. I only saw this one once — the guy unhooked everything, the boat came down the rollers, and it dumped out right onto the steep cement ramp.
6. Car keys are placed in the top pocket of a guy’s shirt. While unhooking the boat, the keys go overboard as he leans over.
7. The all-time worst blunder, though, was some years ago in Nashua, N.H., at the launch on the Merrimack River, just north of Greely Park. The launch was dangerously steep, and the current was very, very swift in the river. A guy launched his rig there and backed his vehicle much too far into the river. With the boat still attached to the trailer, his vehicle was pulled right into the Merrimack.

Thus, the launch ramp still continues to be the boating equivalent to a “comedy hour,” and you can laugh about many of the things you see there for years to come. All you have to do is stand back, watch with a sense of humor, and tell your kids, “Don’t do what that doofus is doing — just watch Dad and learn from me.”

Lee Brucks
Nashua, NH

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Self-Launching Boats

May I offer my compliments on Randy Scott’s January ’08 “Back to Basics” piece (“ Launch Ramp Etiquette”)? You’ve hit so many “hot buttons” with this article that I think it should be a “ must-read” for anyone before they even use a ramp. Being a second-generation boater, I’ve spent enough time at launch ramps to witness the complete lack of consideration some people display when they’re at the ramp area. Add to this a total lack of knowledge about the proper launching and retrieval of their boats, and the ramp either becomes a good place to go for tons of laughs or a bad place to go to manage your blood pressure while waiting your turn.

I did notice one particular item I believe needs a little clarification. Namely, your mention to “be sure the winch strap is removed before you put the boat in the water.” Although this statement is correct, I’m concerned about the interpretation by the reader. I would advise to remove the strap after the trailer has been backed down the ramp, yet just before you loosen access to the strap/boat connection, due to its location over the water. In all reality, a person might remove the strap after the pre-launch processes but prior to backing completely down the ramp. I saw this happen to a boater whose boat slid off his trailer prematurely, and it was just an ugly sight. Once again, my compliments on a great article.

John Donaldson
Oakdale, NY

Contributing Editor Randy Scott responds: Thanks for the kudos, John. And you’re right, it doesn’t hurt to emphasize just when you should unleash the winch strap from the boat. It should remain connected until you position the trailer at the water’s edge to ensure the boat doesn’t inadvertently launch itself on the ramp while backing up the trailer. That’s especially true on steep ramps and with trailers that have been equipped with rollers.

A Small Price

I must begin this letter by saying that, month by month, you guys produce a top-notch magazine. As a lover or all things antique, I am a particular fan of Lee Wangstad’s “Classic Boat” articles. Whenever the magazine shows up in my mailbox, I must admit that I flip to his article first and then eagerly devour every word of it.

It should be no surprise, then, if my favorite time of the year is when I put my boat in the water. There’s nothing that can beat the feeling of having a full boating season ahead of you. My least favorite part of the season? You’ve probably guessed it — winterization time. Nothing can be more tedious, but it’s a small price to pay in the long run.

Robert Kasparov
Buffalo, NY

Super Skipper

Being a lifelong boater (I built my first at 14 years old, which was 44 years ago), I avidly read anything that comes into my view with the word “boat” in its title. “So,” I think to myself, “ here comes a nice-looking magazine with a great article on restoration” — which I enjoyed. Currently, I’m in the process of training my next assistant for our boat maintenance and repair duties. His name is Skipper, and he was about 3 months old when this photograh was taken in the boat engine room next to a DD 6-71.

Eugene Shaw
Lake Orion, MI