Boat Ramp Blues- Part 1

In this article of sailing beginner, I would like to relate an incident that recently happened to me while retrieving my sailboat on a boat ramp on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Let me start out by saying that it was an event to remember considering that it was not a typical boat retrieve in any way or form. First, let be back up a minute and tell you that I had been apprehensive beforehand just thinking about using this boat ramp for a variety of reasons. One is that there is no parking onsite for trailers, because the only place to park it is a couple of miles down the road. Then once the trailer is detached, you have to drive the tow vehicle back to the boat ramp parking lot to park. Ok a minor inconvenience, but hey the boat ramp is free!

The second issue I have especially if you are alone, is you have to leave your vehicle on the ramp while you tie up to the dock that is 100 yards away. Only after the sailboat was secured to the dock first, I was finally able to drive off the boat ramp, fortunately in the meantime there was no one waiting to use it.  No big deal, it’s only a couple of minor inconveniences at this point, but hey who’s counting? So I went sailing for a couple of hours and returned to the Alton Bay boat ramp and docked the sailboat and took the car to the offsite parking lot to retrieve the boat trailer.

Once I returned to the boat ramp, I backed down the ramp until I was satisfied that I had the boat trailer deep enough to retrieve my sailboat. To my surprise, I felt that one side of the boat trailer dropped off the ramp. So after a couple of attempts, I was able to pull the trailer forward and reposition it so that I could back down once again. This time however, the trailer completely dropped out of sight! It would have been no problem if I was launching a submarine, but now I was perplexed, as to what was going on with this boat ramp? As the rear tires of my car were just touching the water. Once again I tried to go forward, but this time my car wouldn’t budge at all. In fact I tried several times to move forward even to the point of spinning the tires, but to no avail.

So I had noticed a couple of gentlemen in the parking lot one of them was standing talking to another who was sitting in a van and I asked the driver if he could give me a tow. He was a little hesitant initially but he agreed to give it a try.  So he backed down the ramp close enough to connect a nylon tow strap that I had stored in the trunk of my car. Once the tow strap was attached and tension was applied to it, we tried to pull together, but the trailer wouldn’t budge whatsoever. The trailer was holding us hostage just like an anchor. What’s up with that I thought? So now what? ….

After studying the situation for a few moments, I figured the only way to get the trailer unstuck was to unhook it from the car and use the boat winch to pull it out. So I pulled the car forward, then by using the tow strap attached to my car and to the boat winch, I started to turn the winch handle, but the trailer started to tip to its side and started to pull my car back. So I backed off and rerouted the winch strap to the opposite side of the winch mount pedestal.

This time around, I put a wheel chock in back of my rear wheel and again I started turning the winch handle. This time the boat trailer started to move out of the water an inch at a time. Good thing for me that even though this was in mid-October, the water wasn’t all that cold, as I was up over my knees when using the winch. I was relieved to get the trailer unstuck, so I hooked boat trailer to the car and backed down the ramp for the third time. This time however I did not back up as far and the trailer was set just deep enough, so that I would be able to retrieve the boat.

My next concern was getting the sailing boat on the trailer, and so I asked one of the guys I approached earlier in the parking lot if he would give me a hand and thankfully he said that he would. So the plan was once I brought the boat to the vicinity of the trailer using the outboard, I would throw him the bow line and he would pull the boat on the trailer. So after a couple of tries, we were successful and I was finally able to get the boat off that miserable boat ramp. While securing the boat to the trailer, I stopped briefly and thanked both gentlemen who assisted me in this endeavor, as I felt obligated to do so. After thanking them, one of the guys started telling me that my predicament was nothing to what he had witnessed on this boat ramp over the years. He lives nearby, and frequents this ramp on an ongoing basis.

He was telling me that one guy backed down on the ramp and for whatever reason both his truck and trailer ended up floating out in the bay a ways before it sunk. Needless to say, what a mess that situation must have been for the owner. Another time, this other guy backed his trailer so far down the ramp that even his four wheel drive truck and that of another could not pull the boat trailer out. Fortunately, he had a friend nearby with a Bobcat loader who in conjunction with two four wheel drive trucks was finally able to pull the trailer out!

Then last but not least, another time this guy was driving off the boat ramp and his boat fell right off onto the ramp. Can you believe it? It must have been quite embarrassing to say the least! It took him and a bunch of anxious boaters wanting to use the ramp over an hour to get the boat back in the water. The boat was finally pulled back down the ramp using two by fours to slide it on until it was back in the water, then reloaded back on the boat trailer. So after hearing about these other disasters to say the least, I don’t feel so bad after all about my experience with the boat ramp from hell. 

From my humble sailing beginning, I have taught myself how to sail a boat with my hand on the tiller and a boat load of time and research. Now you too can learn how to sail by clicking this link Learn How To Sail  Stay tune for my next sailing beginner article. Until then- Happy Sailing!