Why you don't tow by the handlebars

[Xspook]

https://youtu.be/Rf225XnV7Rc

[pro1200]

I'm embarrassed to say I have done this with almost disastrous results. My daughter's ski wouldn't start in a lock we were exiting. In the interest of expediency I tied the rope around the handlebars rather than getting into the water and tying it to the bow eye. We just about went over the spillway adjacent to the lock because I couldn't tow it sideways against the current.

[Renner74]

Lol and not paying full attention at the ski you're trying to haul.

[nmpeter]

at 41 seconds in, you'll see definitive proof on the legend of skis that use the hardware store mailbox numbers often have seriously bad karma attached to them

Poseidon demands style, ignore this fact at your own risk, especially if you are running the inlet

[nmpeter]

Locks are far more difficult to navigate then one might imagine

Qualifier:

The trip that started the legend of captain Pete was a surprise birthday rental of a 47 foot houseboat for my wife's dream trip on the Erie Canal as she's a huge fan of locks. It was supposed to be just another trip to black lake for pontoon fishing

The captain hat appeared in the cockpit shortly after the shock of what my wife did wore off a little as she told the rest of the family that I was now a qualified captain for the trip. I needed the full crew to make the trip as it turned out I got a fifteen minute orientation from The rental company which mostly was about the septic system with a few minutes on how to radio the lock operators on approach

We managed to navigate around 40 locks and I didn't hurt the boat

Came danger close to clipping a construction barge coming out of the biggest lock ( a 40 foot drop) but some deft work with the bow thruster and reversing an engine red October style and some saved up luck saved the trip. Just missed zippering the side of the boat there. My brother in law asked me why I reversed the engine. I told him Neptune spoke to me at the moment I realized we were in trouble

I gifted him a copy of red October that Christmas.

Morals of the story:

Locks make their own currents

Pay attention to nautical movies and videos of the haulover inlet

It could end up saving your day