First day out in the new boat

[datamile]

First real day out with the new boat. Stacer 525 with 115 evin

Off to vicky point with wife and kids, thanks to those who recommend it for the pontoon.

10am 1 space left in the car park... Whats it like in the summer ?

Fairly easy down the ramp, hubs slightly under and still need a big push off.

Quick trip around coohie, and over to peel and the beach. Spot of fishing with the kids off the bluff, but no luck ( didn't have chance to get live bait), but no one appeared to be having much.

Blast back at 40knts, queue of 4 boats waitig for the pontoon, fairly easy recovery.

Appeared pretty deep all over today which is good for my poor nav skills, but the bay is a lot shallower than I thought.

[wags on the water]

Glad you had a good day out with no major dramas.

[PADDLES]

good on ya datamile, we took our one out for it's first run too. the bay's a funny place for the sandbars mate, we're up the top end and you can be scooting along in 15m of water and then it's suddenly 2m and you can see the bottom

[finga]

Goodo eh!!! :)
I'm really glad everything worked out well.
The lack of drama's could be due to all the prep work and homework you've done over the last few weeks.
I suppose the next trip is this next week-end eh.
Cheers :)

[Marlin_Mike]

Take a snap of the bay on google earth mate. Amazing as seen from the sattelites view

Mike

[TonyG]

Hi datamile,

Well done on an enjoyable first day out.

I am currently waiting for my new toy to be delivered, so I can enjoy the bay like you have.

I am waiting on a Bluefin bowrider with 115 merc engine, so basically the same spec that you have.

I will also use vicky point boat ramp because of the pontoon, it's a nice setup.

As mentioned above by others, good prep work is the key.

I have been visiting the local boat ramps, and spending an hour or so just observing how other operate, ie: prep work to do before reversing boat down the ramp, how far to reverse trailer down the ramp into the water, easiest way to put boat into the water, easiest way to ge the boat out of the water.

I think I have learnt more of "what not to do" by visitng the ramps.

All the best with future adventures

Tony

[datamile]

thanks guys, I guess VP is pretty busy in the summer, so I'll kept practising at other ramps just incase it rounds out of parking.

A little more practise on reverse the trailer with small movements, and perhaps a get a proper map. I find the beacon to beacon annoying when your route is accross several pages etc. Time to punch some waypoints into the GPS to help.

[Chris Ryan]

Viccy Point is a busy spot because of the pontoon and the VMR just there too. I use it a lot of the time - with the Mrs 7 months pregnant and a 6yr old son, its just easy for them to get on and off. I find that from mid morning to mid arvo is chockers. Leaving early or later in the day is pretty good as the morning aren't attractive to a lot of people due to the early start, but also the arvo means the morning shift are either back or due back soon so it frees up a little.

Gotta admit though, it is heaps better than Jacobs Well or Cabbage Tree Point down the top end of the coast. Not just 'cause of the pontoon, but the lack of jetskis and annoying people using boat/trailer parks for cars only!

Well done on the effort mate. Unward and upward from here now.

Cheers,