Bad Karma

[Larry Harp]

Got to the lake early Saturday morning and get the boat ready to launch. I waited for what seemed like a lifetime for a guy launching a small boat by himself to clear the ramp. Just as he gets out of the way two old guys with an antique Lowe come whipping in and with me starting to back down, they head right down and take the left side of the ramp. Since I'm launching by myself, floating off with a rope, I couldn't launch for fear that the wind would drift my boat into theirs. So I wait for them to get out of the way. Finally I'm in the water. The lake is way up from all the rain we've had recently. There is a row of trees with a small gap that I have to go through to get back to the good spots. I'm a little disorented because many of the tree stickups I know are there are now submerged. The two old guys in the Lowe are tied up to the tree line, bobber fishing. I'm already in a PO'ed mood because of all the time I wasted at the ramp waiting at the ramp for the worlds slowest guy and then the two old guys so I decide to give 'em a little rockin' wake. I've gone through that gap a thousand times on plane but this time I go through slow and then hammer it to wake the old guys. I go no farther than 20 or 30 yards when BAAAAMM I hit something pretty solid. Tore one blade off and dog-eared the others. That'll be the third prop this year.

I felt like Elmer Fudd when he says,"I know every tree in the forest" and then turns around and walks right into one.



Harpo

 

[Teri C.]

Ouch!

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Were the old guys in the Lowe laughing?



Bill

 

[Michael Snow]

Sounds like something I'd do... waking a guy for the sake of waking him just cuz you're ticked off.



I almost t-boned a ski boat a couple of years ago (on purpose), figuring I'd give them a little payback by scaring them. Ski boat LOOKED the same... but the old folks on it weren't the young brats that had been so rude. So, I scared the depends right off them old geezers and was too ashamed for being stupid to even go back and apologize.

 

[Michael S]

Yeah Harpo I have a question.....



Was the boat ramp big enough for two boats to launch at the same time....and if it was why should you get mad at a couple of guys not doing anything wrong??

 

[Larry Harp]

Jim Bob, Yeah the ramp is two lane but tight. My frustration was in the fact that I had waited for the first guy to casually meander down the ramp, wade out and pull his boat up and beach it right in my way. You see, when I launch by myself, I do it with a rope attached to the trailer. I back down and give a quick stop letting the boat float back. I then jump out, grab the rope and lead it over to the dock and tie up. I was PO'ed at the old guys for running around behind me while I was backing up. I had to hit the brakes to keep from hitting their truck. Then I had to wait for them to get out of the way because the wind was blowing right across the ramp and would have blown my boat into their trailer or boat. In all fairness they didn't know all of this. I'm not saying what I did was cool it's just the way I felt at the time but I don't think they were displaying the best manners either.



Harpo

 

[Michael S]

Oh OK Harpo now I understand the old guys pretty much cut you off while you where trying to back up....that would have pissed me off as well....at first I thought that maybe the ramp was just made for one and they cut in front of you on the ramp...

 

[Christopher Laurencio]

Harpo - we all have days like that I know I do. It seems like there are only two types of people at a boat ramp, good people and rude #&*@$'s. And then there are the people who fish from the launching dock! I launch by myself more often than not and it always seems like there is someone there without any consideration.



Did you catch any fish?

 

[Larry Harp]

Chris, you reminded me of several other things that sucked about that day:

#1, When I went to remove the rope from the bow, somebody had been fishing from the loading ramp dock, while sitting right next to the sign that says, "NO FISHING FROM LOADING RAMP DOCK", and I had to lie down in nightcrawler dirt to reach under the boat to get the rope.



#2, No, I didn't catch anything. Did have huge strike on a topwater but it missed. It looked like a biggun though. Of course they always do before you land them.



#3, Got back to the car and the battery was almost dead. It had just enough juice to start but wouldn't idle until I ran it for a while. Took it to Wal-Mart yesterday where they politly lightened my load by $58.95 for a new pretty yellow battery to match my TM battery.



#4, Took old prop to the prop shop today. Old prop beyond repair. $95 thank you!! Although I must say the girl at Boat City Prop in OKC is so cute, I would pay $95 just to stand around and talk to her. ;>)



If I believed in astrology I would say my sun is behind Pluto or something.



Harpo

 

[Michael Snow]

I know that girl at Boat City Prop. She called me yesterday to tell her about some old geezer who kept checking her out. You didn't happen to notice the guy while you were there, did you?



Oh, and thanks for the "sweet democrats". That was funny.

 

[Steve Rizza]

Mother always said "two wrongs don't make a right"

 

[Larry Harp]

...but three lefts do.





Harpo

 

[Steve Rizza]

You make a good point.LOL