The Joy of Boating

Boating is ridiculously enjoyable! But a serious accident, injury, or loss of life is just not worth it. For the most part, these are all totally avoidable with prudence and established competence. Prudence comes from a good philosophy about boating. Competence comes from theory knowledge, practical skills, and experience. Thus, this course is not something to power (pun kind of intended) through and knock out for the sake of it or for the piece of paper certificate. There is information throughout this course that will save lives—yours or a family member’s and prevent costly damage to your vessel.

Since both weather and sea conditions are major influences in boating it is important that we begin the course with these essentials.

One of the biggest killers in boating is the weather, so you are well advised to take this chapter seriously, to continuously learn about the weather, and to be able to identify when it is safe to “enjoy boating” and when it is not safe.

In adverse weather conditions, safe boating is proportional to the size of your vessel. A smaller vessel will get tossed around more and is less able to handle wind and waves. There is also less protection from exposure to the weather.

As you gain experience, you’ll begin to be more confident with a rough day out, and a good thrashing around can even become quite enjoyable. But always keep in mind your crew. The best way to scare off a spouse, family member, kid, or friend from boating forever is to have them screaming out “TAKE ME HOME.” It’s much more prudent to introduce people to boating on a nice day—sunny with 0-10 knots of breeze is perfect.

If you’re an old-timer, remember the TV series Hill Street Blues? The sergeant always said to his team, “And hey! Be careful out there.”

Same here. Hey, you with the boat, the weather can be a killer. Let’s be careful out there. In the following pages, we discuss the weather and how to properly mix weather and boating.