Preseason tips on boat landing etiquette

THIS is TOO true!

...He said because anybody who knows how to write a check can master boat ownership, the Department of Natural Resources needs to work on more than just boat safety.“They really need to add a pamphlet on boat landing etiquette,” said Tailspinner.

...Probably the most important rule, they say, is that the boat landing is for launching/loading your boat. Period.

“If you’re doing anything other than those two things, you don’t belong there. It’s sort of like an airport runway — only to be used for actual landing and takeoff. Everything else is done at the gate,” he said.

Tailspinner said the landing area is not the place to take the cover off the boat, put the cover on the boat, put on rain gear, take off rain gear, make phone calls, load equipment into the boat, remove safety straps, trim the motor, find the mooring rope, clean out the boat, etc.

...“There are a lot of people headed north every weekend who can drive like Mario Andretti on the highway, but hook a boat behind them and put the transmission in reverse and it’s like they’ve just been put them in charge of a shuttle launch,” he said.

“Look, if you want the trailer to go left, turn the wheel to the right and vice versa. It’s not that hard. Practice in your driveway . . . or an empty parking lot. Figure it out.”

“If you don’t know how to back a trailer, admit it."

...He said once people load their boats, they should immediately get out of the landing.“And by ‘out of the landing’, that doesn’t mean 20 feet in front of it, either. That means completely out of the landing (i.e., parking lot), so others can use it,” he said.

...“We’ve seen vehicles with empty trailers sitting in landings for half an hour waiting for the boat to arrive. Great for them, bad for everybody else,” he said.

...Here’s a Leinie’s Guys’ checklist for the parking lot prior to pulling into the landing: battery is charged, plug is in, motor is trimmed up, all equipment loaded into the boat, rope attached to the boat to hang onto once it leaves the trailer, gas tank is full, all tie-down straps undone, etc.