Mike Schoonveld: BoatUS membership comes in handy when needed

I backed my boat down the launch ramp one predawn morning, guided by the lights on my trailer, the ambient lights in the area, and a pale sliver of moon overhead. I’d done it hundreds of other times so my thoughts were more on fishing than the job at hand.
I was launching alone, so the boat’s long bow rope was cinched to the trailer’s winch support. Once the boat floated off the trailer bunks, I would pull ahead enough to be able to reach the bow rope then move to a cleat on the pier next to the ramp. Easy enough – until it wasn’t.