Flying corporate helicopters for clients in the UK and EU neccessitated having a constantly updated, easily accessible data base of available landing sites. This was critical in case some one or a new pilot had to go in at a moments notice. This lead to a standardised multi season constantly updated (with seasonal and light / dark) reference document with constantly updated photographs and pilots comments.
Considering the multitude of boat ramps and accesses available, it might pay for the creation of a similar setup on this forum which may also even be published by the site owners eventually in book form.....creating an additional revenue stream ? This would really be using the power of the net to gather data - well!
Critical information would be -
Cost
Access
Security
Ease of use in tides
Weather effect
General comments
Day night, low, high tide photographs and any prohibiting structures....ie the bridge at Orewa Jetty - difficult for HT boats at High Tide....
etc etc
If standardised, and constantly updated by the great users of this forum, it would present a wealth of information at one source.
Hey, hit me over the head (but gently) if this is a bad idea.
a bit of an example....(I'm sure there are better ones)....
Orewa Jetties:-
Orewa has two main jetties both on the estuary:-
One is on the Eastern side inside the caravan park (A) one on the Western side of the main road bridge (B)
A - Access all the time through the caravan park. Can be difficult in high season due to numbers of visitors and vehicles. No parking allowed inside the park - so you have to launch and remove the vehicle and trailer. Bad wash in the tides, shallow access only at low tide!
Taken at low tide date (Summer - but forgotten)

From the top of the ramp looking down
A narrow channel to navigate in and out - rocks covered at High Tide
Jetty B
Boat ramp directly on the other side, but out of sight in pic. Pleanty of parking, but not secure at night - (dark) also crowded in Summer.
The main bridge over the estuary pic taken on / from Northern side at low tide
And so on and so on - I dont have all the pics, but a handy hint would also be to watch out for the concrete drop off at the end of the ramp...

Could be seriously damaging to the health of your trailer if you don't know its there in high tide.....
Pics in opposite tides would be great and could be added by any interested parties.....
May be useful for boat owners that move around a bit too.....
