When I had a winter job in Juneau, Alaska, many Coast Guard hands worked out in the same gym I did. I asked one about the funniest boating incident he had seen. He said that he had been at a boat launch facility on the lower Mississippi and watched the following:
A guy, with a new big super-duty pickup with a boat and trailer, pulled up to the launch ramp. He expertly lined up his rig and backed down the ramp. He removed the boat hold-down straps and then amazingly, "tied a twenty-foot bow line to his leg". Apparently, like most of us, he preferred to not get the boat trailer lights, axles, and brakes wet. His plan was to back rapidly down the ramp and then slam on the pickup brakes at the right moment and have the boat slide gracefully off the trailer into the river without wetting the trailer. The bowline would keep the boat from drifting away with the momentum and current.
This time the plan went badly. He had the driver's door partly open as he backed rapidly down the ramp, and the edge of the door hit a concrete pole that wadded it up like a napkin. The driver jammed on the brake and the laws of the conservation of momentum took over. The truck and trailer stopped, but THE BOAT KEPT GOING! The bowline quickly went tight and jerked the surprised boat owner out of the pickup cab. The truck, no longer restrained by the brakes, calmly backed the trailer and itself down the ramp and completely under the water. I am not clear on what happened to the boat. I'm sure that the owner had a spirited conversation with his insurance company.
I have been an observer at many boat launch ramps and found them to be a bit of a circus at times. I have also observed that a sadly-high percentage of men who botch the launch of their boats find some excuse to loudly blame it on their long-suffering mate.
In Whittier, Alaska, two separate State ferry boat passengers drove their cars down the ferry dock, and guided by each car's onboard navigation system, turned hard to starboard, down the boat ramp, and into Passage Canal. I am a believer in full-emersion baptism, but there is no evidence that it is beneficial to modern automobiles.
