Close Call leaving Ferry

[Mr. Mixer]

While crossing the Potomac on White's Ferry this weekend I met up with a couple of other guys on bikes (one was a Yamaha cruiser, the other an HD) on the ferry. Both were very nice to chat with and the guy on the HD was good enough to share some info about speed cameras on the road after leaving the ferry. As we approached the far side, the same guy mentioned that we should be careful when departing the ferry as the ramp between the boat and the shore would get quite wet once the operator dropped it in preparation o our departure. I waved both the other bikes off ahead of me and then proceeded to gas it a bit to get up the fairly steep incline. Guess I hadn't paid as much attention as I should have to the warning 'cuz the back wheel of my RT started to come around as soon as I hit the water on the boats' ramp plate. I managed to ride it out as if I were on a dirt bike with about 45deg of yaw to each side (sheer luck, a good sense of balance and steering in the direction of the skid kept the bike up), but I felt like a bit of an idiot (OK, OK, a bit of a MAJOR idiot) for not having sufficient control to keep the wheels under me. I'll bet the cagers behind me thought I was showing off...

 

I didn't feel I had room to get up enough speed to coast up the wet part, but I didn't pay enough attention to how the other two guys did it. I will certainly pay more attention in the future to how other riders in front of me handle road conditions. I usually do, but for some reason this time I had some sort of brain freeze. I have been on this ferry before several times and did not face thus type of situation, but it did point out to me how careful one needs to be on steel plates in the roadway when it is raining.

 

My question is when faced with this type of situation (steep metal ramp with water sheeting off of it), how would the rest of you keep safe?

 

 

[g_frey]

I don't do much with ferrys but I do quite a bit with icy ramps. About the only way to do it is to coast up the ramp--- no acceleration, no braking. Sufficient speed to make it up but no extra. Good line, sufficient speed, and a little prayer has worked so far. Whoops sometimes I dig up a little dirt or gravel and throw it on there too.

[Dave39]

We have some ferries out here on the Sacto River Delta across some sloughs. Along the sides of them are steep levees. I try to stay at the back of the ferry (last on), on the other side I wait till everyone is off, get up enough speed to coast across the usually wet metal ramp and then gun the bike to get up the very steep drive on the levee to the road. So far that has worked for me.