4D for short. I have navigated the 4D many times over the last 40 years. Sometimes the Devil gives me a pass. Most times he does not. You might say "Rick, the Devil doesn't have a dock", but to this I firmly disagree. He was there when it was designed; for who, but the Devil, would put a dock with two ramps that drop completely out of site from the parking lot. This drop off immediately turns the boat trailer as it enters the ramp. Who, but the Devil, would consider that the ramps should be divided into two narrow sections and put a 3 ft wide curve between. Note the curve also cannot be seen from the parking lot. The two sections are just wide enough to to fit a boat trailer in if you are perfectly aligned with the center of the ramp, which the drop off never lets you do without multiple attempts. Who, but the Devil, would design the docks with only one place to hold on to from a boat and not provide any place to tie up said boat. And just for fun the Devil decided to place the ramps and dock so the prevailing winds ALWAYS push any boat away from the dock, usually towards the neighboring ramp. To make sure the wind puts a boat immediately in danger, have the second ramp end in water in which rocks are less than 6 inches deep so boats being pushed that way are grounded.
Looking at the photo you might think those hand rails are good tie up locations, but they are too far from the water to be of any good. To get to the handrails the boat has to bottom out on the ramp. This photo was taken when the lake was so full water was going through the spillway. This is a rare occurrence. Photo was taken after I fell in the lake because of the crosswind.
There are actually real events that have happened at 4D.
June 1990 (?) Don and I reach 4D in his canoe. Paul was fishing with his son and it was nearing dark. We wanted to hurry to get clear of the ramp before Pal arrived. As I reached for the one grab pole, the canoe tipped over and dumped Don and me onto the ramp. When we flipped the canoe upright the canoe filled with water. We rescued our gear and tried to bail out the water and get out before Paul arrived. We didn't want him to see I had tipped over the canoe. We heard his motor approaching so moved quickly to get the canoe up the ramp and onto Don's truck. As we pulled out before Paul arrived I said "I'll bet the guy watching us bail out the canoe will tell Paul "You should have the seen the clowns that were just here bailing out a canoe" "
August 2003 Scott came down from Chicago on a Saturday to help me make my first launch of the boat I purchased that week. Navigating heavy fog we made it Dawson and joined the line of waiting boats. After multiple attempts to get aligned on the disappearing ramps with Scott in the boat, I finally reached the water. After pulling out the trailer to park it, Scott yelled "The boat is sinking" I ran to the line of boats and asked to break back in to load the sinking boat. Fortunately I was given a space and got the boat out before it bottomed out on the ramp. That's when I learned not to take the plug out of the boat, ever. OK, Devil , lesson learned.
June 2025 You can read the whole story at https://principalfishing.blogspot.com/2025/06/well-thats-never-happened-before.html.
Today after multiple attempts to get straight on the ramp, we tried to put Paul's boat in the lake using his new release mechanism to unlock the boat from the trailer. We couldn't get it to release. After 30 minutes going back in and out of the water, we finally realized the trailer winch strap was still attacked to the boat. The Devil messes with one's mind too, just ask Paul.
There have been other incidents but I can't recall the specifics, except you might ask how I know about the shallow rocks off the one ramp? Experience. How do I know about the prevailing wind? Experience. How do I know about the narrow lanes and the curves on the ramps. Experience from multiple encounters with hitting the curve and the dock.
The good thing, we survived the trip today in spite of the bad start. We actually caught some fish and didn't break anything or fall in. 4 D doesn't always win. A good day with a good friend. But I still don't trust 4D.
No comments:
Post a Comment