Launching On The Brink

Finally our long journey was over, now a new chapter could begin it's time to launch our Tartan 27. At Burnham Harbor in Chicago they have a boat ramp for just this occasion. The lake is currently about 21" low and despite the warnings of the marina operators I opted to try and launch my Tartan 27 at the boat ramp. With the help of a few friends this was a success... eventually.

I started by rigging up a few control lines to the boat to help guide her off of her trailer once floating. Next up was backing ever so slowly down the ramp. The boat and trailer cleared the walls of the ramp by about six inches which made the reversing a rather slow and white knuckle experience but finally we were in the water with the trailer

All was going well, slow backing up getting the rudder wet, then the prop, then the whole hull then... thud! I had hit the parking block placed at the bottom of the ramp to keep trailers from backing too far in. I still needed probably about three inches more water, if only the lake wasn't so low. I remembered that I had total replacement insurance and decided that come hell or low water I was launching this boat. I pushed back and rolled the first of three axles over the parking block and got a few inches deeper when... thud! I had hit the second set of wheels on the block. The boat was only inches from floating free and I wasn't willing to go deeper. The water was nearly up to the door sills on the truck and I was hopelessly stuck with little traction.

At this point in complete desperation my wife jumped onto the trailer and started kicking the boat backwards... kick by kick I could see the boat slowly slipping backwards into the water. FINALLY! it was free and floating! We managed to wrangle the boat away from the trailer and tied it up safely to the touch and go dock.

During this entire escapade we had begun to draw a crowd and given quite a show. The kicking in particular raised a few cheers and a round of applause when the boat finally came free. Luckily for the onlookers the show had just begun. I now had a rental truck backed deep into water with a trailer that was stuck over a parking block in Lake Michigan. I tried pulling and pulling in 4WD, 4WD low, first gear, second gear... all with no luck, the trailer was going nowhere and with all of my wheels in the water I was at a distinct disadvantage for pulling this trailer from the water.

Once again I remembered that I had purchased the insurance when renting this truck... let's get our money's worth! I backed the truck in as far as she would go to the second set of trailer wheels and slammed it into gear. After one of the worst noises I've ever heard from a transmission, a giant thud and whiplash inducing jerk the trailer popped up and over the parking block... I was free!

We settled everything down and the harbor was nice enough to let us get a walk-up slip for the evening. The first night in Chicago and my Tartan 27 would float in the lap of luxury in Burhham harbor next to a mega-yacht... it looked like a dinghy but I don't care, my boat is finally home.