Hahaha thats funny. No fn idea some people. Touch wood all I have done to date is using my uncles boat and not putting the battery on charge so when I have used it next time the motor wouldnt start due to flat battery. So had to rip the battery out of my car.

Absolute classic .... i saw a fella and his elderly dad come back in from a days fishing down at woodies. He dropped the old man off and then reversed away from the jettys . once the old boy had bought the car down to the ramp he signalled his son to bring it into the ramp. Pity the trailer wasn't far enough in and the son had wound up the 20 + footer to about 10 knots and - Whack !!!! hits the tralier , airborne until the bow came down onto the winch post and puts the Bow sprit through the back window of his New cruiser .... - Thats not all..... Once I went over to see what i could do ( other than try not to laugh ) - his son reverses the boat back off the trailer and low and behold the old man had connected the winch rope while we were talking and now pulls that clean off the trailer aswell..... By this stage the pair of them are pissed at each other and get into a full on war of words when I told the son if he could swim and he says " Thats enough out of you you F*#K STICK .. so - I just pointed to his boat that has now floated off the jetty heading towards the power boat club...... I calmly told him that he was a " F' n Legend " and I got on with what i was doing  - Some people just need to not be out on the water !....

Haha, nah he's ok! At least he was honest and up front about everything.

It's pretty fun sitting on the beach near the little inlet at tantabidi, and watching people stack it on the slimey timber edges of the ramp. You usually get a few per day at low tide. Me mate gordo took a ripper there, and we were wondering why he wasn't helping us retrieve the boat. We were yelling for him goin where the fuck is he? He was winded and crippled that bad, he couldn't even reply!!

That's a cracker, luv it!!

Sounds like a good one haha. Mine would have to  be when i also was out solo and back at the ramp when i was moving my boat foward to allow the boat behind me to rope up aswell. Hubby was driving and his wife i presume was getting ready to get the rope over the pylon, at the time i was looking foward until i hear 'ahhh'. Look back and the lady has gone to jump off the boat and onto the jetty when shes completley missed it and ive looked at the right time seeing her hit the water. Had to swallow my tongue. :)

ha that reminds me of the time i met karl langdon down at the boat ramp had a bit of a chat with him and he truely was a genuin top bloke with loads of enthusiasm so i hope if he reads this he's ok with it. Anyway it was the day i'd put a hook thru my girlfriends finger so we fanged back to the ramp so she could be picked up to get it removed while i got the boat duties sorted.

Anyway it was a quiet weekday at the hillarys ramp and we had just pulled up, behind us and on the other side of the finger jetty we see a boat coming in with Karl on deckie duties to get the line around the post. So this guy who put enthusiasm into everything he does gave us a big smile and something along the lines of "hows ot goin!" as he sprung up onto the jetty first foot landing square in place but with too much enthusiasm for the next foot to land anywhere except well clear of the structure no sooner had he jumped up he was well clear of the jetty and swimmimg behind my boat the guy pissed himself laughing, was a great sport about it and had a chat after for a bit, showed off my girlfriends war  wound and parted ways and so concludes my first expirience meeting an AFL footballer!

 Here's one , as told to me by a workmate

Hubby and wife arrive at the ramp for a days happy boating at cockburn ramp ( should have gone with a mate!)

they launch, and as he took off in the car the old trailer bouces a bit coming up the ramp.

He parks and heads for the boat and see's a crowd gathering around the ramp, pushes through the throng and

there's wifey on the deck with a tyre mark up the leg were he ran over her!

apprently the wind caught the boat with her attached into the path of the trailer.

anyway sporting a bruised leg off they went (imagine the boat chatter that day haha)

this happened years ago, so later that day ( still arguing) the team hit red rooster for a serve of 

chicette ( a immoral concoction of chook and spag) heading down the freeway ,him driving,she dumps the steaming 

delight fair in the nether regions for good measure.

Blessed are those, that avoid the ramp, Issac Walton,pommy land ,1745 ( I think)

A member of this forum slipped and tried to put his head under the wheel of my boat trailer while I was reversing, I did brake however.

a few years ago i had a 16ft ali centre console and on a busy saturday morning at hillarys i got a bit over eager and undid the shackle holding the boat onto the trailer and dry launched the boat on the bitumen about 50 metres from the water, then had to round up some help as i was on my own that day!1 how embarrasing! fortunately the boat and motor was o.k

My mate Joe had been watching how folks reverse down the ramp at full pelt,,slam the brakes on and the boat effortsly slides into the water,,my job was to hold onto the long rope,,

It was text book launching until on his way back to the carpark at the speed of light the rope i was holding got caught around the rollers and trailer and he dragged the boat half way back to the carpark,,

 came in at rocko on a comp day with my son at the front of the boat ready to jumo onto the jetty to tie up. all was going smoothly as we got closer so he jumped , as he did so he put his weight on the rope only to find the rope had come loose at the stern end so instead of stopping on the jetty he kept on going right over the other side falling in front of another boat, luckily the skipper saw it happen and pulled up in time. we all pissed ouselves laughing 

Was working out of Hamelin Bay as a pro and doing an oil change on the boat while hanging off the mooring, a bloke in a flash 24-26 foot glass boat comes along side and asks how is the best way to retrieve his boat on the ramp. Because the swell had come up to around two half a half metres plus I told him he was better of driving round to Flinders bay and to drop his decky off to take the car and trailer round.

I thought nothing of it untill I heard yelling and swearing coming from the ramp about ten minutes later, there was this lovely boat sideways across the trailer with people up to their necks in the water. Wouldn't be ten minutes later and he comes over and asks direction to Flinders bay, enough said.

Another time there and Fred, a crayboat decky, come zooming in to the beach in the 4 metre tinny , drops the throttle off to allow it to slide up the beach so he can load the bait on. Wrong, the boat went straight up the beach, hit the big mound of kelp and seaweed and continued straight on the next 10 metres or so straight in to the limestone wall with out even slowing down. One of those moments when you wished you had a camera to catch the expression on his face with it happening in slow motion.

Have seen some real nasty ones where people have been seriously hurt at Hamelin when the swell comes up and people are too stupid to take local advice or are too greedy and launch their boats in conditions that the pros don't even go out. Its always the ones who try to help them retrieve their boats who usually get injured which makes it worse.

my boat trailer only has rollers on the middle not the side,only carpet sliders..i can undo it and reverse down with out the boat rolling of the trailer..my mate payed 65k for a plate ally 22footer..unhookd it..reversed down and released its got rollers all round and fell of the trailer half way down the ramp  at woodys.peeled half his transom away and cost 4 digits to fix..

a couple of weeks ago a mate asked me to go out with him in his new 4.2 topender. Now this guy has a skippers ticket but this is his first boat, first time out, we were returning to the lions park boatramp at Kununurra and because of the river flow he needed to keep some power on to get across the flow. Being the good deckie i was up front ready to jump onto the shore.

two other families were on shore, some swimming and some looking for crocs? as we approach the shore my so called mate gives the power a jab and next thing i am flat on my back on the casting deck looking like a huge dead ant all the way into the bank. A comment from one of the guys on the bank, "geez i wish i had a camera!"

he assures me it was an accident but the smile on his face said it all!

New to this site, and from the NT, but this happened in NSW a few years ago TO ME!

I was at a small ramp in Saratoga NSW, it was mid winter and very dark AND the ramp was very slippery. I was wearing trackie dacks and a heavy wool jumper and dunlop vollies. The tide had just started to go out and as there was only a narrow channel with a ferry wharf beside the ramp the current was going at a fair pace.

I was launching a 4 m tinnie from behind a troopie...

I pulled up and got all the straps off the boat and got things organised and started to talk with an old bloke hanging about the ramp.

As I got into the car and started to reverse old mate was walking beside the car talking to me through the open window (stealing heat from the heater I think) We were having a joke as I reversed along, and for a moment I forgot what I was doing. All of a sudden old mate wasnt beside me and I thought Sh$% I am going down the ramp. I hit the brakes trying to get my bearings. Well the car kept going on the slippery ramp dragged along by the boat.

Next thing I know I get this floating feeling. The car was fully in the water and floating along.

I put us in first gear and released the clutch and actually started to make some headway for a moment, but then the boat got caught in the current and still attached to the trailer by the front shackle, dragged the car out into the channel. The trailer was pretty well floating as well. Wheels were enough bouyancy

Then the car started to tilt, over to the drivers side. i decided I should probably bail out but every time I tried to exit drivers side, the car leant over too far. I decided to dive out anyway and the car tried to roll over on top, but I got out. Then I realised OOOps wallet is in there, so I had to lean in again.

At this point motor was on and car was in first. I decided to knock it out of gear and pull the handbrake on. God knows why.

Anyway I swum to the boat and disconnected it and boated the 20 or 30 metres back to the ramp, where old mate was already calling the local firies.

Soon after the car sunk the motor went bang and all I could see was the headlights glowing in the brinie.... They stayed on for about an hour actually.

Local volunter firies turned up, and one of them worked with me at our regular day jobs. He thought it soooo funny he called work and the local radio station and the local rag. It was just lovely, wasted my 15 mins of fame on that....and the jumper I was wearing had this big yellow smiley face knitted into it, so I looked like some drowned rat druggie type. Good impresion I made.

Had to get a semi trailer tow truck to drag the car out, because it was blocking the local ferry from getting to the ramp. Ferry actually struck the roof of the car and chopped a hole in the roof with its screw.. Damaged the screw so happy happy joy joy when I tried to expalin the situation to the insurance mob...

The towie wouldnt go in the water to attach the tow line, so firie friend drove me out in my boat (after I had finally got warm) and I had to dive overboard with the all of a sudden very heavy tow line and hook. took me straight down the 3 or 4 metres to the car and I sort of wrapped it around the bull bar and got the hell out of there.

When the whole lot was pulled out the barn door had opened and I lost about $1200.00 of tools and stuff but got one blue swimmer crab.

So all in all not a bad effort, one crab within 30m of ramp and a 35k insurance claim...

I have never launched at that ramp again.

Be good

Chris

About the worst i've seen is launching at Bundegi. Put the boat in the water (4.2m webster twin) and motor wouldnt start, so had to put the boat back on the trailer. Put the boat on the trailer, and couldnt pull it up the ramp (slippery ramp doesnt work well with a ute and slick standard road tires). Took the boat off, and still couldnt get the trailer up. Had to disconnect the trailer (tied it off of course). Got the ute up, then tied a rope to the trailer and eventually got it up. I was laughing a little through the whole saga but the owner was fuming :p.

Bit of a silly ramp though. They have big knobbly bits for grip, but unless you have big knobbly tires its a bit useless as the surface is (or was?) smooth as. Bit of algae and you dont have any grip at all. Would be a awesome ramp with a bit of sandblasting (or weathering).

Had a few near misses on ramps stepping onto the wood (or plastic) fenders. Good thing i never jump on them or i'd have cracked my head several times.

I always seem to be accident prone. However the chance off an accident increases exponentially when I am a deckie on someone elses boat.

Was asked to go out with friends up here for some  Saddletails that where bitting like mad on his spot. Nice day out apart from the usual Taxman. Coming back into land should have let the couple that know what they are doing retrieve the boat. But no I insisted on helping and as we approached the ramp I was about to step onto it, when I realised that the Pole I was holding on to was not a fixture on the boat, but a moveable bloody outrigger!!!

Already commited to the step but with nothing to hold onto smack into the water between the boat and Jetty, with 4 other boat loads of people all pissing themselves!!

All ended well apart from a bruised ego.

Neels

No real damage to me, but I am sure the people down Mindarie had a good laugh watching a 150kg bloke diving down to retrieve his car keys wearing a kids mask and snorkel. I found them on the third attempt, not bad in 4m of water under a jetty.

   Was launching my old runabout the "WHATAHUNKER" at deepwater point with the newly pregnant ex missus. Being careful of the slippery ramp i told her to be carefull, only to slip and fall arse over tit in the next nano second! I hit the water and rebounded fully soaked in a matter of seconds to a roar of laughter from everyone at the cafe next to the ramp!!

Someone should make a reality show called "THE RAMP"!!! Hours of laughter!!!

Have seen a brand spanking new 25 foot glass boat sitting on the concrete about a third of the way down the ramp. Being first timers they undid not only the chain but the winch cable as well so once the trailer starts down the ramp off slides the boat. They mucked around trying to winch it back on and snapped the cable so the only othe roption was to get the boat in to the water. Come in crayboat, hook a rope on and drag it down the ramp untill its floating, making lovely sounds as its being scraped over those little lovely  squares.

 Glad it wasn't me.

Another one there when the trailer hitch lifted off the ball and the trailer went straight down the ramp at full tilt with a 18 foot Pilot boat on it. The owner used to unhook it from the rear of his Suzuki 4x4 and hitch it on a ball fitted to his front bumper with out chains as a back up. How it never hit anyone is a miracle as it was around 0730 in the middle of the white crayfish season when all the locals would be returning from pulling their pots before work.

Easter long weekend get down to Hillarys ramp and watch the chaos prevale, always good for  laugh

Dont know why we call them 'professional' fisherman , maybe should be called commercial ? I saw a cray boat crew load up there tiny little tinny they were using as a tender , should say overload had bait boxes stacked about 3 feet clear of the gunwhales , launch out off the beach with a bit of chop in the water, they got about 1/3 of the way to their boat out on a mooring when the motor must have died , could see the skipper trying hard to pull start the outboard again as the swell turned the tinny side on , then capsize it. Was pretty funny , man did they looked pissed off when they swam ashore. Didnt have the balls to say anything heheheh

... saw a pair of blokes at gracetown one morning years ago with a 16-17 foor alli ....got a bit eager on their pre launch preperations .....undid the shackle and winch cable ..as they went to back down the ramp ....the driver just touched the brakes ....boat dry launched straight off the back onto the hard ramp 15 metres short of the water ...held the rest of us up for a bit while we helped get it back on the trailer with them

 a very old couple [ mid 70s] at west bay in augusta back in the 90s  ..very late , well almost dark  on an autum day ..who while retrieving  their boat , forgot to put the handbrake on their  troopy ........as the boat came on the troopy went backwards , picked up speed and went in up to the bonnet ......poor old buggers spent an hour on their own in the cold trying to get the troopy out .......my kids came running into our camp with the news ,,so we helped em out .....reckon the where the coldest id ever seen anyone , at their age it was not good

bloke with a mercedes launched it at the old ramp in busso years  ago .....think it was the scout one ...when it had the very badly designed timber ramp that was their till it got washed away

had a near nasty experience at canal rocks back in 2005 myself ..... went out fishing on a 2 metre swell .........no wind ....ocean was good .swell was supposed to be dropping as the day went on .............however it didnt , it picked up ...arrived back in at the ramp about 3.30pm .....with some big sets more like 3+ hitting the ramp ...no option to head around the cape as not enough juice ...other choice was to tie off to a mooring and  swim in ....come back tomorow and get the boat    we decidedto sit off and watch  it for 20 mins ..waves where hitting the ramp and surging right up the bugger at about a metre deep ...made our plan and picked the moment  to try and run in .......no chance to drive it on , just wanted to get it on the right side of the ramp , beach it  , use the small bit of sand there to load it from ...cruiser off the ramp and trailer angled   sideways  on the sand /rocks

swell picked up my 18 foot ali , as we got close and we surfed the surge in ....came down with a thud ....successive waves and the surge , filled the self draining deck with gallons of water .....had some minor damage to the prop even though the leg was up as it hit the finger jetty  and transducer ....snapped the winch cable ....as the water weight poured out the back scuppers ..so we had to retie it and slowly load her on the trailer ..inch by inch as the water drained ..but other than our egos ...minor damage ....and all was insured ...canal can be like that though ....reckon im no orphan at that ramp ..lol

if you fish often enough you increase your chances of it happening i spose

hezzy

I was a guest fishing in Darwin Harbour.  We caught some fish, but not too good, anyway we passed a Navy ship cruising as we headed to the

ski club ramp.

Myself and mate were in knee deep water holding the boat whilst the owner was reversing the trailer.  Next thing, a set of big waves, wake from the Naval ship which passed us 10 minutes earlier, crashed over the back of the boat, sinking it to the concrete.

The boat's owner was so pissed off and shocked when he reversed down to see his camera, reels etc, floating in 18 inches of water inside his boat.

Never expected the ships wake to travel a couple km's

ha!

Well, someone forgot to put the plugs in. I said, "Grandad, is the boat ment to be underwater" He said sure, then checked it over and said "SHIT". I'll leave it at that!

Haha this is gold

once down at geo bay, my throttle stick was stuck just pasted idle (forward), so we werent going very fast towards the jetty, but e bieng a 17year young bloke tried to save the boat from any damage. I learnt the hard way after ramming the jetty (very gently) and not even denting the ali boat we had i decided to use my hand a fender.... So the side rails on the boat pushed my wrist up while i was pushing off a jetty pylon and snap. bsnapped my wrist in 3 different places. Put the boat on the trailer went home iced it up and went out fishing for 3 more days. I acutelly couldnt fish with two hand so if i hooked something my deckie would have to bring it up for me :P

The end result was being in a cast for neally 9 weeks, due to my bones rotating by not going to the hospital straight away, a bit of wrist pain still on the odd day now, as the doctors were unsure whether to operate, so they put a half cast on my wrist to try and rotate the bones back which they did..... and neally 5 months till i have full use of my wrist again.....

in regards to people who cant reverse trailers, meh if the ramps not busy go for it son, LEARN, we all once never knew how to reverse trailers. If its busy well maybe you should wait for a gap...but generally i will bite my lip cause once i was one of them learning to reverse trailers (even though i spent a couple nights reversing my trailer in city beach car park for practise!)

- i have a drive on trailer...and still to do this day have never driven it on, its just too daunting and i dont have the money to repair if i damage, so i just float her on/winch......

brett

Had a mate do a favour for me and tow my boat to Exmouth while I was in Perth. I was planning on spending a week fishing Exmouth on my way back to hedland. Said there was no problem if he took the boat out for the day before I got there. Mistake.
Went to pick it up once I got into town and noticed a few issues. All the gear that had been packed into the boat was just scattered over the deck. Esky had 3 day old squid and water in it. My spotters sunnies laying on the deck with a broken frame after being walked on. Skeg was half broken off and bent and stainless prop slightly bent.
Towed it away and had a trailer spring collapse. ( my problem)
Put a new pair of springs on the trailer and went to launch at bundegi. Found the missing part of the skeg on the ramp.
They had only put one of the 3 bungs in when they put it in the water. Got a couple of hundred metres and realized the deck was covered in water. Turned around and missed the trailer with first attempt, taking a layer of gelcoat off the keel in the process. Got it on the trailer and forgot to tilt motor up and dragged skeg up the ramp. Cheers guys.

The bung plug on my former boat is fitted from the inside of the boat and it didn't quite matter if they were actually in or not.

I launched one day at OR and had the bung plug in my hand at the reverse area, where I usually tie on the deck rope. The guys beside me were also just about to launch. We exchanged "G'Days" then continued getting ready. I tossed the plug in the boat, tied on the rope and reversed down, launched the boat, secured it at the end, then drove the car up.

Up at the car park I was abit delayed as I had to rummage thru the car for coins, but finally found enough for the ticket. When I was heading down the stairs, I saw the other driver running to the ramp and the the guy at the boat was shouting his head off. Anyway I got there to find the tinnie full of water and heard one of them say "I didn't know what to do with it and I saw him toss his into the boat and I just did the same".

Turns out it was their first boat and first time out. No RST required at that time.

Helped them pull the tinnie up as high as we could and got whatever gear of theirs that had floated off.

Naughty Alfred setting a bad example for first time boaters!

Maybe I'll play that trick with someone at the boat ramp next time.

Well, just yesterday, parents were at work so I got my grandad to take me to the boat ramp= MISTAKE

I'm not blaming it on anyone, but I rekon it was bad luck

1) Found the boat trailer had a flat tyre. Had to change it.

2) Went to drive the boat off and motor didn't start.

2.5) Going at 15knots, the motor stops and we find a rock in it! Sweet.

3) Parked the car on the opposite side to the one the boat was at. Then a Firetruck parks in the middle so i had to swim with it over the other side! Thanks Mr Firey!

4) Huge 20m boat passed us and we got tidal waves

5) Same boat passed again and me and the car got a mouthful

6) Went to winch the boat up but had no hook to attatch to boat

7) Had to drive at 30km with hazard lights on because either the boat was going to fall off, or the car would explode. Something would happen knowing my luck

What a great day...

Benno

seen a guy drive his 7mtr glass cat onto the trailer and once he got about half way on the trailer ripped right off the tow ball. it was incredibly lucky that the guy standing next to the winch didnt get squashed by the trailer. 

Dodge ouch!!!

Blooody hard thing to do lending your boat to your mates. Much prefer to lend my car!

ive been down the ramp and seen some full on stuff but your story tops it!! lol!!!!!

Just before the demersal ban last year. Launching at Mindarie with a new deckie. Have a 6.4 Bar Crusher which comes off the trailler easy. Reverse down ramp, get out and undo safety chain, start winching the boat down to control the launch. Decky decides all too slow, so he gives the hull a mighty push, winch handle rips out of my hand and starts spinning at a million rev's. Boat is now out of control and I afraid it will hit the finger jetty. Realise an issue but can't control my instincts and stick my hand in to try grab the winch handle. Result handle smashes the back of hand. Blood shooting about 25 feet. Bruising starts immediately. Anyway can still move fingers so decide to go fishing, but in agony all day.End up being an issue for 5 to 6 months, no broken bones but severe tendon damage. Still am unable to fully move 1 finger.

Lesson learn't. Fully explain launch procedure to new deckies before hand.

Mark

I'm a bit out of the action at the moment so let's hear them from you blokes

A very busy Mary St Lagoon boat ramp many years ago.

Spent a great day on the water in my brother in laws ex offshore speedboat.

Coming in to the ramp nose first he asked me to sit up the bow with legs dangling and jump off before the keel hit the concrete.

All went to plan until my stubby shorts got hooked on his anchor bollard.

There I was hanging by the shorts ( read NUTS ) off the bow of his boat. Jump Off!! he yells.

I Can't as i am hanging here. Crunch - up the ramp- swear words re possible damage to hull.

Don't worrie about my nuts you bastard, by this time i was talking falsetto.

He kindly finally came up to the bow and lifted my from my predicament.

Can still see these two old chooks trolling around on the jetty pissing themselves - bitches.

I  know I  am  one  of  "those" people  you guys love  to  laugh at. Cant reverse  to save  my  life  and  happy to do my apprenticeship  in a old  busted  arse  tinny  before  upgrading  to a  karratha  carport trophy.

My worst moment  was in kalbarri in  a  mates   boat  which  was  taking  in  water  fast and  the  bilge  pump was dead. I was  bailing  franticly  and  as  we entered  the  mouth  past   black rock we  took in even  more  water  due  to the  swell.  We  got  to the  ramp  and  me  mate  bolted  for  his  car  while  i  was  still bailing. Bloody   heavy  to  winch  once  it  was  hooked  up  and  by  then   tackle  bags  and  boxes were floating.  heap of  people  had a good ole laugh that day. Since  then I  believe   you  can  undo the bungs and get the craft travelling up on its plane will help   move  water  out?

Got  heaps  more  to tell  but  will save  myself the embarrassment. I have  slipped  at  Karrathas back beach  ramp  a  few  times. Most  recent    time  was  the  worst. Bloody hurt aye. Beach and  bank launches  FTW!

This didn't happen at a boat ramp but still pretty funny...even though I was caught in the middle of it...

My bro and I went out on my aunties boat last Wednesday in Mandurah, her husband having just bought swish 40 ft boat not too long ago. Knows a bit about boats but is inexperienced when it comes to operating

For the most part the day is pretty good, except for when coming out of the canals he doesn't appear to pay close enough attention to the depth sounder and there is less than  60 cm clearance, the engine starts stuttering and all that and you could see a mucky trail in the boats wake. Had seen one of those pontoon type boats come a cropper just before the canals enterance and several blokes were trying to push it free. Was thinking after laughing and taking a photo of their predicament that it would be poetic justice that we'd find ourselves in the same predicament. Thankfully got clear into deeper water. Anywhores, I digress...

Time comes to head back in...all goes well as we enter the marina to tie up in his pen. Aunty has hopped out on the bow ready to hook up the mooring lines and all that shiz. Not all that clued up on boating terminology, so if I dont make sense in some things, sue me. So he starts to line it up but comes in at a slight angle, with Aunty shouting out directions to try and line the boat up properly. Bit of throttle here and there but the stern keeps inexhorably swinging to the right. I can see what's about to happen so I grab one of those plastic extendable mooring line gaffs to push us away from a yacht. The guy is actually on it at the time and watches it all unfold. Before I could tell the skipper to hold the fuck up so i can try and push it clear, the boat hits the yacht and somehow manages to get the Zodiac mounted on the stern caught on the yacht. Cue panicked hitting of the throttle....crunch! scrape! grind! THUMP...the boat comes clear. Poor old mate on the yacht looks shocked. Worse still, in the skippers panic, he has gunned it a little too much and hit another moored yacht, slamming into its bow, denting his own railing on its anchor and scraping paint and all that. A small miracle aunty does not go flying into the marina.

Thankfully the owner of the yacht lends a hand as we come in a second time. This guy is an old school hippy sort, long hair, colourful head band and clothes and all that and as he grabs ahold of the boat to help it dock he is going....'Woah maaaan....dont touch the throttle....ease off maaaan!' and all that. Was probably the funniest part of it, did feel sorry for him seeing his boat get clobbered though. Brother and I have hands on mouth trying to stiffle laughter...probably looked and sounded a whole lot worse than it was (just some dents and scraped paint).

I think I shall wait some time until the skip has learnt to dock his boat before accepting any future invitations to go out on it.