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Old 07-31-2021, 10:53 AM   #88
XCR-700
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ITD View Post
All those situations you list are just an everyday part of boating.

Do you just whip out from a parking spot in your car when your view is blocked by an object and hope that you won't hit something? I doubt it, but that is what you are saying above that you do in a boat.

Move no faster when in close to an object than you would want to be moving if you hit it. Take those words to heart, that is how you should be operating your boat, it removes almost all fear from boating. You keep saying "constant power", I don't know what boat you have, but in my boat, that gets me going too fast in close, and my experience this is true with almost all recreational boats.

I'm telling you that you need to work on maneuvering your boat slowly, I can tell from how you post, you are afraid and you don't need to be. Start by going to an area that is not busy, throw a life jacket in the water, move a few hundred feet away, then approach it slowly. Keep it in sight and bring to spot a few feet away where you can see it, then keep it in that spot for a minute or two. Then find a dock, bring the bow of the nose just up to the dock, but don't touch, try to hold it there. Back off and do it again. Figure out how to angle the boat based on conditions so you can hold it there without moving more than a foot or two. Nudge the power as you need to keep the boat under control. Being able to do this will make paddle boarders no big deal regardless of where they are. It will also make your feeling that you have be going a certain speed to maintain control go away.

Finally, find a u shaped dock, and back into it, that is the real test of boat control.

Being able to do these things will help you realize that maintaining boat control is not a function of maintaining a certain power level. Power actually has nothing to do with it. I've said that I go no faster in close than I want to be going if I hit something. Which is probably a very slow walk speed. The amount of power I need to MAINTAIN THAT SPEED is not a constant. On a windless, waveless day it may be a short nudge that moves me 100 feet at that slow walk speed. On a day when the wind is howling it may be constant power to MAINTAIN THAT SPEED. The danger is not a random paddle boarder near a dock for a few minutes, the danger is boaters who do not know how to drive their boats. If you are in fear, or worried about driving your boat or operating your boat in close quarters, find someone to help you learn, read a book on how to handle a boat and get out and practice. The point is maintaining that slow speed and control. Not maintaining a power level.

The only thing I really fear while boating is someone who doesn't know how to operate their boat getting all puckered up near me, thinking they need more power and running me over.
It is all to apparent that we are way off topic, and making zero progress.

Clearly our perspectives are too different to resolve and in reality representative of the spectrum people boating.

You speak about recreational boaters as if they are (or should be) on par with commercial mariners in an industrial setting, where as my observation is that most recreational boaters cant tell port from starboard, can barely operate their boats, and have never seen a spark plug let alone changed one on their own boat or even understand how most of it works.

You seem to be promoting the notion that boaters must measure up to the standards you expect (backing into a u-shaped dock - not getting puckered up - etc) great ideas in a perfect world, but not even close to reality for a reasonable expectation. Sorry it just is not going to happen.

I except that I will be surrounded by constant problems from novice boaters and paddle board renters and people with kayaks who seem oblivious about the situations they sometime put themselves in, and that I must adjust and adapt to the errors of many others. As well as all the potential errors I make! (let he who is without sin cast the first stone!)

I believe you will not change the makeup of the recreational boaters nor their abilities, and there is no way to educate day visitor/vacationers who rent powerful fiberglass boats, bulky and challenging to operate around dock pontoon boats, and paddle boards where I have seen novices kneeling down on the boards and hugging dock hoping to build their skill but wanting the perceived safety of a lower position and close proximity to a dock, all the while placing themselves in harms way from the novice AND aggressive boaters.

As such I believe we must all adapt to the lowest common denominator(s) among us.

So again we will have to agree to disagree on all this and more.

I will accept you are entitled to your opinion and I will continue to practice what has served me well all my years of boating on Winnipesaukee and elsewhere, dating back to when the steering on our boats looked like clothesline rope.

ATB
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