Backcountry Lessons, Courtesy of the Boating Community

The shovel "upside the haid": the fantasy of many a North Carolina boater.

Then again, if everybody acted like they had some sense, we wouldn't have one of a Spring weekend's favorite activities: setting up a lawn chair at the boat ramp on a sunny Saturday afternoon, having a couple of frosties, and judging the efforts with placards numbered 1-10. Hint--there are a lot of single digit scores, even a zero now and then (where zero is the score if you dump your rig off of the trailer directly onto the ramp surface without any part of it touching the water).

Foy
 
Foy said:
The shovel "upside the haid": the fantasy of many a North Carolina boater.

Then again, if everybody acted like they had some sense, we wouldn't have one of a Spring weekend's favorite activities: setting up a lawn chair at the boat ramp on a sunny Saturday afternoon, having a couple of frosties, and judging the efforts with placards numbered 1-10. Hint--there are a lot of single digit scores, even a zero now and then (where zero is the score if you dump your rig off of the trailer directly onto the ramp surface without any part of it touching the water).

Foy
Click to expand...
I believe that powering a boat onto the trailer and into/on top of the tow vehicle will also earn a zero. It's amazing how much power a boat has once the operator has a dozen beers under the belt.
 
My favorite was watching a guy with a poorly attached, oversized outboard, hit it full throttle in reverse. The very powerful outboard promptly lifted off of the stern, and then sank. Luckily all of the control cables were still attached to the boat so as it pulled the stern underwater, it was easy to see where the outboard sat on the bottom because the bow of the boat was sticking straight up from that point. And I do beleive the guy was sober, not much of a boater though.
 
Oh yeah, what fun to go down to Miller Park and spend some time watching boaters attempt to launch.

It does have some applicability to camping. I've sat behind some idiot that was unprepared to either enter or exit a campsite. Maybe I should have used my shovel?
 
Maybe that's the real reason the forest service wants campers to carry a shovel. It's not for wildfires after all
 
Bad Habit said:
Maybe that's the real reason the forest service wants campers to carry a shovel. It's not for wildfires after all
Click to expand...
The Forest Service considers a shovel a multi-purpose tool (from a wildland firefighter's view).

- Supervisor identification - especially on the fire line a supervisor can be easily identified because he/she is the only person within 5 miles that is carrying a shovel and typically leans on the shovel while watching everybody else work

- Skillet - occasionally used to fry freshly caught fish

- Clothes rack - hang it in the back of a enclosed pickup bed to dry clothes and gear on. Since nobody uses shovels to do real work the clothes rack can stay up all season or until a supervisor comes out and forgets their shovel (or somebody lands a fish)

- Indicator for when to look busy- See Supervisor Identification definition above.
 
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