Marina Bum
Escalante-Class Member
I agree completely about efficency of launch and retrieve operations, the lakes around Phoenix were the same way back in the day as you describe Havasu. This ramp at Stateline now is narrow and things were better before the barricades clogged it up; It’s oddly spaced now.
I also feel like boats are getting bigger, there are a lot of direct drive boats with very high gunnel conditions, some 8 or 9 feet high on their trailer and it’s disconcerting to have someone three foot away from you when you can’t see over their boat. That makes me wonder if the driver even knows I’m there, it makes me nervous.
Then there are those with the obsession with protecting the finish of their boat at any length which to me is kind of a new development. Shrink wrapping you entire gunnel? Are you going to use your boat like this all week? Should you even have it out of your garage? With so many of these boats at Powell and with proclivities like this out on a tiny ramp with barricades it feels even smaller. These guys are obviously hyper sensitive and seem to demand a lot of room to protect their finish.
I try to muster a bit of empathy for others on the ramp. If you boat a lot and have been doing it all your life it’s easy to forget that about half the people there are scared and stressed out to one degree or another about launching and retrieving on a busy day or at any time.
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