Well my post/experience is a bit different to some of the above ones..
I have been one of those guys who dearly needed a hand. And i've also been one of those guys in the past who has given a hand when i knew it was needed.
But it's one experience I will always remember. 6 years ago and very knew to offshore fishing/boating. 3 of us beachlaunched a 4 metre tiller steer on Homebeach Nth Straddie.
Being knew to offshore fishing and never having beach launched before we picked a spot for entry which was relatively steep (thinking similar to a ramp)....we hadn't considered what the beach would be like at a tide later on for the retrieve.
A number of hours go by, squire coming on board, we head in feeling pretty chuffed with ourselves.
Tide is now getting quite full and the beach even steeper....we back the Jeep Grand Cherokee down (had been owned a few months but a new second-hand), hitch the boat, only to start getting bogged.....things went from bad to worse very quick on the incoming. soft steep sand, bigger surf, cars bogged, unhitch the trailer, too late, car is stuck.
Now what followed really interested me, here's a few guys thinking they had done the right thing, but just had it all wrong.We weren't trying to be reckless or being cowboys but just inexperienced trying to have a fish (2 brothers and an old man) we were in a real state and needed help on an otherwise pretty lonely beach.
Some blokes would rock up and then would park their 4wd up on the beach and proceed to crack the beers whist talking and watching our desperation as the Jeep was b*lls deep and going under... and then you'd get some other champions who'd come along and offer some genuine support. They couldnt help us in the end but I sure appreciated the gesture.
So I am one of those guys who's made a meal out of it, I reckon there's a lot more out there, who if honest, would say they have as well at some stage. But everyone's got to start to learn from somewhere.
Sorry about the ramble, but the thread brought back some memories...
Mark