Safe boating tips
 

Thought I'd start a thread so people can offer some good tips to avoid unsafe situations.

Here's one of my favorites:

When you are in a crossing situation with another boat that's too far away to judge easily, you can easily tell if the the other boat will pass in front of you, pass behind you, or if you are on a collision course, by looking at the shore in the background of the other boat.

If the other boat appears to moving backward, relative to the shore, it will pass behind you. If you speed up or turn away from the boat, just a little, you will open the gap and create a safer crossing situation.

If the other boat is moving forward, relative to the shore, it will pass ahead of you. If you slow down or turn toward the other boat, just a little, you will open the gap and create a safer crossing situation.

If the other boat remains stationary, relative to the shore, you are on a collision course and if you are the give-way boat, you should make obvious course or speed adjustments. If you are the stand-on boat, you need to maintain course and speed unless the other boat forces you otherwise.

Edited to add some crappy diagrams:

This is an overhead diagram of what I am trying to describe:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9...D550/ry%3D400/

The yellow block is an object on the shore. The blue line is the sight line between the two boats.





This is a view from the boat in the first diagram, looking starboard, toward the boat near shore, and the yellow object on the shore:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9...D550/ry%3D400/

If the boat in the distance appears to be moving forward, relative to the yellow object on shore (the red arrow), the boat will pass in front of you. Slow down or turn to starboard to increase the passing clearance between the boats.

If the boat in the distance appears to be moving backward, relative to the yellow object on shore (the blue arrow), the boat will pass behind you. Speed up, or turn to port to increase the passing clearance between the boats.

If the boat in the distance appears to be stationary, relative to the object on shore, the two boats are on a collision course and crossing situation rules must be followed.

As the saying goes....
 

Where's the diagram thingie?

Releative to a recent drowning on Newfound:( Make sure you guests know where your throw cushions are located. And what they are for...

Boating wise,

Try not to be pig headed about who is the "give way" boat is. Plan early and give a little regardless. Sometimes speeding up helps create a bigger gap.

Be aware of how big the marked area is. Just because you are 500' from shore still may not leave enough safe water for another boat to pass you. This can cause someone to apear to come close for no reason like a bonehead...

When towing a disabled boat it's hard for others to know what you are doing. Tie an orange cushoin or life jacket in the middle of the rope so people can tell you are being towed. Most will slow down if they see the tow rope.

And Color Charts no less
 

I'm simply amazed at your diagram prowess Dave :laugh:

Above and beyond the call of duty, you rise to the occasion.

The Hundred-Foot Boat...
 

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9...D550/ry%3D400/
1) Your diagram has the "other" boat leaving a shoreline. That would indicate that he could still be accelerating, and that he could be accelerating while towing a tube.

While the tip is good for waters with a low population of vacationers, the diagram does not take into account that tubers could be hidden from one's view for several seconds. When you think about it, the boat in the diagram should be considered 24' long—plus another 70' for the towed persons—or, nearly 100' long! :eek:

2) Fine-tuning the 150' rule like this, does not consider the fallen skier or tuber: He (or they) could be another 300' behind that boat before the skipper is alerted to a "fall".

Another consideration for this diagram is that very few boats carry a straight course for very long.

3) Gazing above my computer screen, I'm watching a MS-registered RIB towing a snorkler 400' off shore—in reverse! Oops...make that two kiddie-snorklers.

Visibility is less than 20', and they're in 30' of water. :rolleye2: Did I mention I love weekends? :laugh:

3) My cautionary statement for a "thundery" weekend afternoon like this one, is to watch for building clouds—listen for thunder when stopped—then don't raft your powerboat next to a sailboat! :D

Changed my mind
 

DaveR
I thought this was a good trick when I first read it last week.

Well I have put it into practice a 100 times since and it is not a good trick, it is a great great concept. It works at many different angles and is incredibly easy to do. Even my wife who has serious depth perception challenges can now do it with ease.

On Saturday, we were approaching two widely spaced PWCs who were perhaps a half mile away on our port side. Being the stand on boat, I knew I did not have to adjust my course but asked RG what she thought was going to happen with the two PWCs relative to us. She quickly told me that one was going to pass in front and one was going to pass behind. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened.

The other great use of the new found knowledge is I can make a small course or speed change well in advance and make close crossing a non event.

Thanks again.
Now to teach the kids. They are going to love the elegance of this.

That's the main use of it for me. I like to present as few close crossing situations as possible. This trick makes it easy and allows me to concentrate on all the other things going on, just a little bit more.

As APS eloquently pointed out, it does not work if the other boat is changing course/and or speed, that's something I should have put in the original post.

I've read the opposite, that there's a decent-sized "cone of protection" that surrounds a sailboat with a metal mast and rafting to one is a good idea if there's no better options. I suppose the mast would have to be bonded though, not sure if they are as a general practice or not.

Lightning and Sailboats
 

A "guest sailboat" was on our dock when its was struck by lightning. It was a wooden boat with a wood mast but had metal track which ran the length of the mast. My boats fiberglass hull was penetrated making a 2'' diameter hole at the bow. Floatation foam was all over the place and gauges on the dash destroyed. My neighbors boat had the same damage.

I guess a sailboat has a "cone of destruction". I think I'll take APS's advice and avoid them in thunder storms.

That said, we keep an eye out for them in general, and my kid's mobile phones show local weather radar which makes it easy to see if any are coming, so we've had an easy time avoiding them.

But....if you are at a constant speed and course you become immediately aware of the other boats change as it relates to your updated potential encounter. Even more helpful to me as we can see if the change has an impact on what I should do or expect.

Dave, I've seen a mast steaming, and all of the electronics melted in sailboats suffering a mast hit by lightening. Better quality sailboats do better. It's pretty nasty to see.