We came in this Saturday evening from boating in Morehead at the State dock. It was packed and there was about 15 boaters waiting to take out. The ramps were full. So this is a procedure question...
Do you usually pull up to the dock, tie up, get out and go get your truck. Or do you drop someone off at the dock and go out into a "holding pattern" 100 yards out in the channel and wait until your partner backs the trailer in the water?
The reason I ask is we pulled up, saw there was an "open space" at the ramp, no boat there and no truck on the ramp, so we pulled up to the dock and tied off and went to get the truck. Then I see some guy backing his trailer into the water (where we're tied up), then he gets out cursing and ranting about his buddy is "out yonder" (points to one of the boats about 100 or 150 yards away in the water). Then he proceeds to tell us we need to move because he can't get his boat on his trailer with us in the way. He was shouting obscenities and there were some women and small children around and someone called the cops.
I went ahead and moved off and let him load his boat because he couldn't load his boat with mine in the way, and I obviously couldn't back my trailer down the ramp with his already in the water. I guess it was a "mexican standoff" and I got the feeling from his cursing and ranting that he wasn't going to relent. Two Coast Guard police and the local police showed up right as he was driving off, and they were talking to the family with children about the guy. After all the ruckus was over the news reporter pulled up and rolled down her window and asked me what was going on because they heard a 9-1-1 call over their scanner of a "fight at the boat ramp" LOL. (Wasn't any fighting just a lot of cussing from that one guy). I told her wasn't any fight just some confusion about who was in line "first" at the ramp.
I usually pull the boat up to the dock, tie off, get out and go get the truck, back in down, load the boat, and then drive off. If I've been doing it wrong, I can certainly change. I guess it hasn't ever been so crowded before to be an issue. The thing is my wife can't handle the boat docking, especially if there's any wind or current, and she can't back the trailer down the ramp. And I can't drive the boat and back the trailer at the same time, so going into a "holding pattern" out in the channel until I see my truck backing down the ramp really isn't an option. On one hand I can't see what benefit it would be to back your trailer down the ramp when you can clearly see there's a boat tied up there so you can't load your boat, and on the other hand, I can see the extra 5 minute delay of a tied up boat awaiting a trailer to come if there's more than one capable person on board.
Was this guy just a butt hole and in too much of a hurry to get out? Should he have tied his boat up and then waited for his buddy with the truck/trailer to come, or was he right to send his buddy off into a "holding pattern" and leave a big empty spot that someone was obviously going to pull into. I had no way of knowing buddy was circling the airport in a holding pattern and he was gone to fetch his trailer. I just saw an empty ramp and an empty dock. Anyone woulda probably pulled into it. It just happened to be me.
Is there any "official rules" about who has the "right of way" at a state boat ramp?
Do you usually pull up to the dock, tie up, get out and go get your truck. Or do you drop someone off at the dock and go out into a "holding pattern" 100 yards out in the channel and wait until your partner backs the trailer in the water?
The reason I ask is we pulled up, saw there was an "open space" at the ramp, no boat there and no truck on the ramp, so we pulled up to the dock and tied off and went to get the truck. Then I see some guy backing his trailer into the water (where we're tied up), then he gets out cursing and ranting about his buddy is "out yonder" (points to one of the boats about 100 or 150 yards away in the water). Then he proceeds to tell us we need to move because he can't get his boat on his trailer with us in the way. He was shouting obscenities and there were some women and small children around and someone called the cops.
I went ahead and moved off and let him load his boat because he couldn't load his boat with mine in the way, and I obviously couldn't back my trailer down the ramp with his already in the water. I guess it was a "mexican standoff" and I got the feeling from his cursing and ranting that he wasn't going to relent. Two Coast Guard police and the local police showed up right as he was driving off, and they were talking to the family with children about the guy. After all the ruckus was over the news reporter pulled up and rolled down her window and asked me what was going on because they heard a 9-1-1 call over their scanner of a "fight at the boat ramp" LOL. (Wasn't any fighting just a lot of cussing from that one guy). I told her wasn't any fight just some confusion about who was in line "first" at the ramp.
I usually pull the boat up to the dock, tie off, get out and go get the truck, back in down, load the boat, and then drive off. If I've been doing it wrong, I can certainly change. I guess it hasn't ever been so crowded before to be an issue. The thing is my wife can't handle the boat docking, especially if there's any wind or current, and she can't back the trailer down the ramp. And I can't drive the boat and back the trailer at the same time, so going into a "holding pattern" out in the channel until I see my truck backing down the ramp really isn't an option. On one hand I can't see what benefit it would be to back your trailer down the ramp when you can clearly see there's a boat tied up there so you can't load your boat, and on the other hand, I can see the extra 5 minute delay of a tied up boat awaiting a trailer to come if there's more than one capable person on board.
Was this guy just a butt hole and in too much of a hurry to get out? Should he have tied his boat up and then waited for his buddy with the truck/trailer to come, or was he right to send his buddy off into a "holding pattern" and leave a big empty spot that someone was obviously going to pull into. I had no way of knowing buddy was circling the airport in a holding pattern and he was gone to fetch his trailer. I just saw an empty ramp and an empty dock. Anyone woulda probably pulled into it. It just happened to be me.
Is there any "official rules" about who has the "right of way" at a state boat ramp?