Boat Ramp Etiquette (for digital map of Tomaels Bay)

Hey all. I have a quick question for the group on your feelings about boat launch etiquette for both kayakers and power boaters.

I fish both double paddle canoes and a small outboard skiff. A few times a year I head up to Tomales Bay with my skiff and have always had a lot of trouble at the launch ramp with the kayak rental guys and newbie paddlers taking up the whole ramp for classes, or to sort gear etc. Very frustrating to a guy who goes out of his way to prep my gear before hitting the ramp so I don’t waste anyone’s time.

In addition to being a boater I also makes maps for a living and have created a digital map/chart with sonar terrain for Tomales Bay (http://www.mapbliss.com/SonarCharts/). The map is intended to be a small boater’s guide to the bay. It works with smart phones and tablets to show your GPS location on the chart. The sonar bottom substitutes for a depth finder for those of us in small craft.

On the map I’m adding a section about boat ramp etiquette and would very much like your opinions of its contents:

Please prepare your boat away from the boat ramp. Do not block the ramp in order to load or unload boat gear.
Once the boat is in the water move it to the courtesy dock or as far back as you can from the ramp area to provide room for other boaters to come and go as you move your vehicle off the ramp or prepare to leave dock.
Do not use the ramp as a staging or training area.
When parking your vehicle please be considerate of boaters with trailers and do not park un trailored vehicles in trailer parking.
Avoid creating a wake when leaving or approaching the dock or anywhere smaller easily swamped vessels are present.
Please be kind and courteous to your fellow boat ramp users. An offer to help will move things along faster than yelling!

Let me know what you think. Is there anything that you as a kayaker would like to see added?

i thought THOSE were the rules EVERYONE follows when launching at a actual boat ramp.

Good luck getting EVERYONE to follow them...... I will! (avoid going to boat ramps) 

I cant view the map right now, but I would add that if there is enough room for two vehicles to launch at the same time to not take the center and leave room for the other veh to launch/load at the same time.

Yeah, it's not meant to be a set of rules for kayakers but boaters in general. I know that this is my reaction to what I've dealt with in the past at that ramp and I want to be fair to guys who paddle more than I do in terms of adding to the 'rules'.

It's mostly about putting it out there. Honestly I just follow commons sense and good courtesy when I launch (or am on the water in general). I've never read the 'rules' anywhere myself, they are certainly never posted at the ramps.

I figure it just makes sense to add them to a map that might be used by a lot of first time small boaters who may not have much experience with launch etiquette.

Not sure if this will post, it's a big map and I can't down sample it much more without making it un readable.

Edited to add: looks like the board re samples it anyway. I'll try and post a link to larger version on line later.

What about wind conditions? Should guys in small boats get preference on using the lee side of a ramp? Or the side in the lee of the break water?

I had a guy in a very big boat get frustrated with me once for launching my little skiff on the south ramp where the water is deeper. I assume he couldn't use the other side.

Hey all. I have a quick question for the group on your feelings about boat launch etiquette for both kayakers and power boaters.

I fish both double paddle canoes and a small outboard skiff. A few times a year I head up to Tomales Bay with my skiff and have always had a lot of trouble at the launch ramp with the kayak rental guys and newbie paddlers taking up the whole ramp for classes, or to sort gear etc. Very frustrating to a guy who goes out of his way to prep my gear before hitting the ramp so I don’t waste anyone’s time.

In addition to being a boater I also makes maps for a living and have created a digital map/chart with sonar terrain for Tomales Bay (http://www.mapbliss.com/SonarCharts/). The map is intended to be a small boater’s guide to the bay. It works with smart phones and tablets to show your GPS location on the chart. The sonar bottom substitutes for a depth finder for those of us in small craft.

On the map I’m adding a section about boat ramp etiquette and would very much like your opinions of its contents:

Please prepare your boat away from the boat ramp. Do not block the ramp in order to load or unload boat gear.
Once the boat is in the water move it to the courtesy dock or as far back as you can from the ramp area to provide room for other boaters to come and go as you move your vehicle off the ramp or prepare to leave dock.
Do not use the ramp as a staging or training area.
When parking your vehicle please be considerate of boaters with trailers and do not park un trailored vehicles in trailer parking.
Avoid creating a wake when leaving or approaching the dock or anywhere smaller easily swamped vessels are present.
Please be kind and courteous to your fellow boat ramp users. An offer to help will move things along faster than yelling!

Let me know what you think. Is there anything that you as a kayaker would like to see added?

Would have been nice to have those rules posted at Gimme Shelter.

Yep I know what you mean.  I was there last year and the launch next to Nicks Cove Restaurant was packed.

And in the distance you can see that group at the ramp. No mater when I go, there is almost always a group like that blocking the N ramp. Anywhere from 3 - 8 paddlers, all their gear (un stowed) laying all over the ramp, the guides van parked facing the wrong way into the oncoming lane that boaters have to use to pull around and line up with the ramp to launch.

Zero hustle on their part to clear the ramp. They act like this is just fine, to block 50% of the launch area for who knows how long (I have never seen them actually launch).

On the one hand it would be nice if the county had built this ramp with better shore launch access given the numbers of kayaks here, but that shouldn't mean the guides can just co opt the ramp as a training or staging space.

In Monterey it is the fishermen in their boats that tie up the launch ramp. They get their boat tied to the dock and then start transporting gear to load. Early in the season is the worst time as many have forgotten how to back up their trailers.

It would be nice if the harbor master setup an area for kayakers separate from that for people with trailered boats. It would be better for both. I hate waiting for someone to figure out how to get their fishing boat in the water and try to remember where they put the fenders and the dock lines while I am standing there with my kayak.

It is a good part of why I only buy kayaks that does not require the use of a launch ramp. When I did underwater photography and had to use an inflatable I had to put up with the boaters who were usually clueless and lacked even rudimentary seamanship skills.

I certainly don't want to pick on paddlers (one of which I frequently am). At most boat ramps it's the trailer guys who are clueless, Nicks Cove seems to be a special case with the intensive use by kayakers and kayak outfitters.

And that's why I wanted to see what you all thought of the etiquette guide for my map.

Sounds like they are universal enough to suit all cases. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. I'd also love to hear thoughts on the map itself from any locals (once I post a larger version).