" JimH" jimhUNDERSCOREosudad@yahooDOTcom wrote in message
. ..

"Bryan" wrote in message
. com...
Picture this:
A picture-perfect day at the lake. Not a boat in sight and none anywhere
near the launch ramp. The ramp is empty, the dock is empty, the water is
empty. The sun is shining. The air is warm. Only thing left to do is
launch my boat.

Oh, one problem. While I was prepping my boat a PWC'er came to the dock
from the water and tied up on the dock near waters edge! He had 4
options that wouldn't have interfered with my solo launching plans and he
picked the one that kept me and anyone else from using the dock for a
launch.

Anyway, it forced me to perform my first water launch and solo at that.
The water launch went well. I'll be comfortable doing that from now on
when the dock isn't available.

So, the bad news: just another encounter with another knucklehead.

The good news: it caused me to learn another water skill.

Oh, and I practiced using my new anchor buddy in preparation for teaching
my wife how to use it for her upcoming boat-in camping trip this weekend.
Glad I practiced; I'll need a longer land line and I think I'll take
advantage of the suggestion to tie the anchor rode and land line to a
float for easy come easy go.

Once again, I've learned as much from this ng as I have from boating
friends; in fact, I'm finding myself more knowledgeable than most, but
less experienced/skilled.

Summer 2006: So far so good!


Glad to hear things went well with only a small bump along the way.

All you need on the stern anchor is 50 feet of line at tops as you don't
have to anchor on the beach or tie up to a tree on the
beach.........setting the anchor in the water (assuming sand or mud) will
work just fine. You also do not need a special float on either the bow
or stern anchors when anchoring near the beach. Get everyone on board
except one after running the blower for 5 minutes. Have the person in the
water lift the stern anchor and bring it to the boat, taking in the line
along the way. Let that person board the boat. Start the engine (with
someone on the bow) and slowly motor out to the bow anchor, taking up line
along the way, until you can pull it up and into the boat.

No need for anything fancy Bryan.


Your description is a little confusing to me. I'll be dropping my anchor
about 30 feet from shore (to take advantage of my stretchy anchor buddy) and
backing to the shore as close as possible. A line will go from the boat to
land and tie around a tree. The anchor buddy will pull the boat away from
shore while the land line will hold the boat as close to shore as I choose.
The shore isn't soft (lots of rocks) so I can't land the boat. My anchor
buddy comes with a tip to use a float to attach the anchor rode and land
line to when not in use making it easy to reconnect when returning without
having to drop achor run the land line each time.

Now if I had a nice soft mud or sand beach to land on I would just drive up
and land the boat and attach the bow line to a tree or something like that.

Am I missing something?