A couple of weeks ago I watched an operation that I still haven't figured
out. Maybe someone else knows what was going on....

This takes place on the California Delta, near Stockton, at a marina called
"Tiki Lagun". It somehow involves a well known party spot called "Lost
Isle", which is an island bar located about two miles by boat from the
marina. These events occurred a few days before Thanksgiving, just before
dark.

It first caught my attention when a small, low profile ski boat, minus
engined, arrived at the launch ramp. Two guys back the trailer down to the
water and then seem to be having trouble getting the boat off the trailer.
I was surprised it didn't float off, considering it had no engine. On
closer look I could see that the rear tie downs were still attached so I
hollar across to them:

"The tie downs are still on!"

"Yeah, we know" was the response.

Okay. Now I am confused.

They are strugging some more, doing something up at the bow, trying to lift
the bow up. Then they pull the rig up a little bit (the water is COLD and
they didn't want to get wet) and then they lift the trailer off the ball of
the truck, and then pull the truck up the ramp a bit. Then they push the
trailer/boat as far down the ramp as they could.

My curiosity got the better of me.

"May I ask what you are doing?"

"Oh, we are dumb blonds" was the reply.

Then one of the guys got on a PWC tied to the dock, donned a life jacket (no
wet suit or anything), the other threw him a rope tied to the bow of the
boat and he proceeded to pull the rig off the ramp, floating the trailer
under the ramp. As he passed by where I was watching, he said that he was
taking it to Lost Isle.

The best I can come up with is that they need a trailer at Lost Isle. Lost
Isle doesn't have a boat ramp however. They have a beach, so I suppose that
they could get a small boat up the beach that way. Assuming that they have
some valid reason to have a trailer on a small island, floating it under a
boat seems like an okay way of getting it there. There were at least two
mistakes that I thought they were making, however.

1) This happened on what may have been the coldest day of the year. The PWC
driver was not wearing a wet suit. The PWC did not appear that stable, and
he was towing a rig that out weighed him. With the trailer underneath the
boat, it was not stable at anything above dead slow, where the PWC is NOT
stable.

2) It was just getting dark, and there were no lights whatsoever on either
vessel. They were traveling down a fairly busy and narrow channel.

I am still curious why they wanted a trailer at Lost Isle, and then what
they did with the boat afterwards.....

Rod McInnis