www.iFourWinns.com

you splash the boat for the season's first time ? After remembering how to back up a trailer. You ease it into the water very very slowly. You let it sit there on the trailer. Fire it up, let it run for about 2 minutes. Give it some gas. It revs. You listen to hear if the bilge is running (unexpectedly). You get the nerve to back it off the trailer. You give it gas ever so slightly and she launches from the trailer. Still you wonder, "man, is everything working right?" Then you pull away from the launch ramp at idle to get into the open water.

And then the fun begins. You give it a little more throttle, and you are just listening... Now you are barreling throught the water at about 10 knots. Still waiting and listening. All those off season checklist running through your mind. Then the real butt puckering happens when you give it throttle to get it up on plane. The engine roars and the sound of the water splashing beneath the hull becomes more crisp. You are now on plane and you are just listening. Waiting for slightest evidence that something has gone wrong.

Ok, so now you are out and about and enjoying your favorite place on earth, the water. Your anxiety begins to lessen as you realize everything is working fine. You keep a constant eye on all your gages. Oil Pressure, RPM's, Temp. Now comes docking for the first time this season. OH boy. "will I remember how to do this?" You make your first approach to line it up and then you abort, even though it was going perfectly. Maybe in our minds, we just wanted to make sure we could still do it. You circle back around and come back in for you second and final approach. Line it up, put in reverse, and nice and easy, in she goes. Just like ole' times. Nothing to it. You havn't lost your touch.

A perfect short cruise. Everything went wonderfully. Not a lick of problems. You then realize that the first cruise in the spring was no different than the last cruise of the fall with the exception of anticipation for the new season replacing the despare of a season coming to an end.

Oh the joys and emotions of the first spring launch.

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"Where Da Go"
2002 248 Vista
Lafayette, IN
http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz

Excellent analogy woggy! I should be in full pucker within the next couple of days.

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2009 H180 w/3.0 Merc
Homebuilt Minimax Hydro
2011 Zodiac Cadet 310

Woggy, please keep writting about your boating, with the price of gas it's much cheaper to read about it than really doing it!

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Fred 248Vista
So much water so little time!

It puckers every time I get in the boat and hope I dont hit a rock that grew up form the bottom over night.....

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Guns kill people like spoons make people fat.
2007 Horizon 190 Gxi
97 Pathfinder SE 4x4
73 International Scout II

You hit the nail on the head!
The only thing I would add as a first timer is staring at the drain plug and wondering/hoping it is in the right way! I am so pathetic I even asked the hauler to check it for me! But man was the first ride great!

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2005 Vista 268 "ALTEAN"

Our first 2 times out this season have come home with problems. I think all is good now.
But the next time out will still be like our first and Yes pucker factor of 110.

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Troy
2008 Centurion Avalanche
1994 Four Winns Horizon 180 SE 5.0L OMC Cobra (Sold)
2002 Ford F150 Harley Davidson Edition (http://www.nhtoc.com) 378 hp & 465 tq at rear wheels
2008 Honda Accord EX-L w/Nav

If you boat all year round, at the marina atleast 1 day a weekend during the winter and everyday during the summer, and leave your boat on the water you will lose that pucker factor.

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Woggy
That is exactly how I feel when I launch for the first time. You should write for a paper or a magazine or something.

That's a pretty accurate description of the feeling........I'm constantly scanning the temp and oil press gauge....making sure it shifts fwd-neutral-reverse.....but in my case....it's a 20 year old boat.....more to think about!

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

You guys should start with a few 12oz curls before launching.

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H210SS 6.2
F150 Platinum

Yep thats how it is with me!! but to make matters worse we also have lots of tourists around the marina that insist on waving at you all the time... and if you don't wave back because your concentrating on not wrecking the £3m yacht in the next berth they think your being ignorant.... Last season I was doing some fishing about a mile of coast and got stung by by our only poisonous fish (weaver fish) I was in that much pain my wife gave it WOT back to the marina, blood all over the boat, fish still on the line, the local lifeboat crew were on routine exercise and came to my aid, and while they were taking me off our boat and on to theirs so I could get to the local hospital quicker people were still shouting 'cooeee'....and waving to us. Some people just don't understand the pleasure of boating!!

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Regards
Beyond the Blue

"If we improve with age I'm now excellent"


Ex 1998 238 Vista 5.0Gi SX DP
Lexus RX300

Yes, I am in for a serious butt pucker when I take my boat for the 1st time this weekend or next from its new Florida slip home. I need to figure out the currents, the wind, the inlet, the intercoastal, the lines from a fixed dock, and of course how do I back into my new slip at my new marina without being the new guy to hit something.

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07 Tiara Sovran 4300
07 338 Vista - SOLD

BB, you'll do great the first time. It's the 2nd time you need to worry about .

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic