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Around 4/6/2005 3:16 PM, wrote:
If you now or previously owned one how long did it take you to learn to
maneuver it properly at low speeds, most especially in reverse and in
wind?
***************
You never stop learning.
Each situation is different, and not all are possible to specifically
rehearse in advance.
Absolutely!
snip
Steering in reverse is a challenge. Some boats do better than others.
Mine does rather well, but backing up over a great distance and with
any accuracy means paying constant attention to the effects of prop and
rudder. Example: My boat backs to starboard. To back up in a straight
line, I turn the wheel to port. At very low rpm, the boat tends to
follow its big rudder rather than the prop walk, and the boat will back
to port. With a little more engine speed, the rudder and the prop walk
eventually achieve a sort of "balance" and the boat will back
relatively straight.
My dad's Chris is fairly tricky to reverse. When backing out of our
slip, he doesn't even have to touch the wheel, just leaves it hard to
port. She reverses a bit to starboard even with the rudder hard over to
port, but when shifted into forward with a few more RPMs it'll kick the
stern around pretty quickly.
I prefer my boat with it's outboard for any length of reversing though. 
--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
-Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
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