My once yearly boat launch etiquette and safety rant…

[Anonymous]

A good friend and I spent most of Sunday out on the water of Moses Lake enjoying a Pre-tournament Carp Shoot (Check out my Moses Lake report) and upon our return to the boat launch at Connelly Park we found this safety nightmare. I grabbed my camera because it was so unbelievable.

Notice the woman standing between the boat launch lanes wading with her three very small children and the heads bobbing along the inside of the far boat dock as the guy launches his jet ski. The three small children did have on PFD's but when I explained to their mom how dangerous it was for her to have her children in that location she just gave me a blank stare and continued to coach them into the water and thank goodness for the girls swimming next to the boat dock as they were able to prevent the jet ski from backing into the dock by pushing it away as it backed over them.


Then there's this group of young one's out for a day of sunshine and hormones on the boat dock. I had to ask them three times and then demand that they move away from the edge of the dock as we were tying up. Again notice the woman and her small children wading as three mental giants help to guide the large boat down the ramp. I think the boats trailer had a roller bunk and they were insuring that the boat didn’t leave the trailer prior to it entering the water.


When the above boat did enter the water loaded with Bikini clad kids and beer, they cranked up the stereo and completed a full tune up on the running engine effectively blocking one lane of the launch for over an hour. Look closely and you can see the owner sticking out from under the motor cover but more importantly notice the line of ten vehicles in the parking lot waiting to load.


We truly had a wonderful time on the water today but after seeing all of this all I could do was shake my head, roll my eyes, say OMG and dial 911.
Hopefully they all made it home safe and the sheriffs department brought extra ticket books.



My once yearly boat launch rant is now over...Have a safe and wonderful summer.

[jf0]

I usually think of boat launches as free entertainment while camping but these pictures really are frightening. Seeing those little kids wadding between the ramps is ridiculous! What's worse is the lady watching them probably thought you were an a-hole for telling her what to do!

[Matt]

Man alive! That kind of stuff gets me every time! Swimming at the launch dock, REALLY?? Playing in between launch lanes, REALLY????? How bout we go play hop scotch in the I-5 Median!!!!

Be careful out there, lol.

[G-Man]

"Here's your sign." - Bill Engvall

Anyone try Lake Sammamish this weekend? With the fantastic weather and the hydro event this weekend, I can only imagine the chaos at the launch, especially if the docks were underwater.

[Marc Martyn]

Until the state assigns an attendant at each launch, it will continue to happen. It is probably the only free swimming area on the lake. I see it at ever launch I go to.

Where are the fishing poles and the wet dog chasing the stick into the water?[thumbdn]

[rjn cajun]

Wow the ski boat looks a little crowded and over the weight limit anyway. Then to mix liquer. Just asking for an accident. That`s half the reason I don`t do tapps anymore.

[FishTank]

I finally got my boat water-ready and hit Newman lake this weekend. I must say I was surprised there wasn't much riffraff at all at the public launch. Of course, they were probably all at the resort. I did see more water recreation than I expected for this time of year. Plenty of jet skis and water skiers--what I like to consider the free show for us fishermen! Had a really good time, too. No line at the launch going in or coming out!

[Anonymous]

Until the state assigns an attendant at each launch, it will continue to happen. It is probably the only free swimming area on the lake. I see it at ever launch I go to. Where are the fishing poles and the wet dog chasing the stick into the water?[thumbdn]

That's the thing Marc. there's a very nice swimming area not 100 yards down the lake shore from this area and some of the nicest parks and beaches in Eastern Washington. In late summer the water can get really nasty and sagnant because it's not very deep in any one place. Moses Lake state park was taken over by the city of Moses Lake several years ago and they do a wonderful job of keeping it clean and nice. It's got a great swimming area and beach. If you travel on I-90 through Moses Lake then you've seen the park. It's on the left hand side of I-90 if your heading East just as you start to enter Moses Lake. I'm just really happy no one was hurt while I was there but I'm 100% positive that it will happen sometime this summer unless things change.

[bionic_one]

I like to call them "personal watercraft terrorists"

[racfish]

PWT's.. Good term there Bionic. PWT's with no PFD's and alcohol= An accident just waiting to happen.

[reigndawgs]

People never cease to amaze, do they?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your support on this one guys. I didn't want to come off sounding like an ass. It's just that the more time I spend on the water the more I have to shake my head and wonder if people are just getting stupider or could it be the older I get the less patience I possess. Either way...I talked with a deputy friend this morning and he let me know that they wrote 22 mostly alcohol related citations shortly after I called 911. Six of which went to the kids in the white boat for MIP and two to the husband and wife team for contributing alcohol to the kids in the white boat. He stated that they spend over an hour chasing folks out of the water around the boat launch but as soon as they walked away…the dummies were back in the water. He also let me know that he personally talked to the women with the three small children wading between the launch lanes and she wanted to argue with him about her freedom to take her children swimming where ever she wanted until he let her know about Washington's child endangerment laws. He stated that his conversation ended with her when he told her to take her children, leave the park and go home or he would be forced to arrest her. He also stated that as the woman was walking away he heard her tell the kids that the reason they had to go home was because the cop was being a jerk.

I’m not an advocate for violence but sometimes I think it just might be easier to smack them in the head with a stick…

[Anonymous]

I’m not an advocate for violence but sometimes I think it just might be easier to smack them in the head with a stick…

This was on my friend's Facebook.... It seemed like a good place to copy/paste it.

" Please copy and paste this to your status if you know someone, or have been affected by someone, who needs a smack upside the head. People who need a smack upside the head affect the lives of many. There is still no known cure for someone who deserves a smack upside the head, except a smack upside the head, but we can raise awareness. Many won't copy and paste this. I did. Will you?"

[bionic_one]

I have to shake my head and wonder if people are just getting stupider

Actually, people are getting dumber. With the social programs and modern medicine we have, we ensure the survival of everyone. We've eliminated natural selection (or what I like to call "self elimination"). People who would have eliminated themselves from the gene pool are now kept alive, and given enhanced ability to spread their seed further in the gene pool.

I'm sure that sounds really heartless and mean, but it's true.

Perhaps we should apply the same science used in determining steelhead hatchery production to ourselves?


QF, I'll definitely be posting that to FB!

[Teal101]

That's actually Cascade Park. The first one you mentioned in your report on the north end of the lake that has a single dock with launches on each side and is in a protected cove deal is Connelly.

Either way that kind of activity is just stupid. The docks are there for boats and boaters not lounging or swimming. If they wanted to go swimming the could have gone down the shoreline and swam out in front of the actual park...

[spindog]

Because of all of above, I won't even try to be around a boat launch after early hours. It amazes me how inconsiderate and completely clueless some people are.

[G-Man]

A long time ago I heard a routine done by the Frantics called Ti Kwan Leep which coined the phase, "boot to the head". Thinking about it helps me to better cope with situations where a person truly needs a "smack in the head with a stick" or a nice "boot to the head". For anyone interested, the link below has the transcript and an MP3 of the skit.

Boot to the Head

It's kinda of sad that our society has coddled people to a point that they can't be effectively taught and can get by without learning much of anything. Sadly, this leads me to believe that the movie, Idiocracy, is an accurate foretelling of the future of mankind.

[racfish]

The part that miffs me about our local launches is how there is little or no enforcement at the launches. In West Seattle Armeni launch lil small sport cars park in a trailer designated area.
So when you back up your trailer there is a 8' car taken up the 30' stall.Worse yet are Jet skiers that leave their skis tied to the dock and no one tending to them.

[BentRod]

I have to shake my head and wonder if people are just getting stupider

Actually, people are getting dumber. With the social programs and modern medicine we have, we ensure the survival of everyone. We've eliminated natural selection (or what I like to call "self elimination"). People who would have eliminated themselves from the gene pool are now kept alive, and given enhanced ability to spread their seed further in the gene pool.

I'm sure that sounds really heartless and mean, but it's true.

Perhaps we should apply the same science used in determining steelhead hatchery production to ourselves?


QF, I'll definitely be posting that to FB!

bionic, I've brought this topic up in conversation on more than one occasion. I've learned that most people think natural selection only applies to organisms other than humans.


Big D, great pics. It's good to illustrate the examples sometimes. I keep telling myself that it'll eventually catch up to them....just like the people on the freeway with a cigarette or coffee in one hand and a cell phone glued to their ear with the other. Glad you did something to keep them from potentially impacting someone else's life in a negative way.

[Mike Carey]

great thread guys! OMG, the mom with the kids takes the cake.