I just finished my second 3-day instruction/charter cruise on a motorboat --
last year with my family on a 42 foot single-engine trawler with side
thrusters and this year on a 54 foot twin-engine Bluewater. I feel I have
learned quite a bit and the bookwork/charts/navigation/systems are not a
problem but I am left puzzled regarding a good plan to gain proficiency
docking in a variety of current/wind/dock layout situations. Short of
bringing a captain with me on lots of these trips, what is a reasonable plan
and set of personal limits? Is there docking "simulator" software available
to help? What guidelines do you have for when you feel ready to handle a
given boat? What type of boat would you suggest initially if the goal is to
cruise the intercoastal with a family of 5?

It seems to me that handling the boat in light wind/current situations is
not a problem but weather can always change. I suppose anchoring until
winds calm down is a possibility though perhaps not a practical one. The
best plan seems to be to initially visit only marinas with a seawall or
deadhead layout and not a slip and certainly not a situation requiring
backing into a slip.

Perhaps there is an analogy here to aviation, with which I have much more
experience. If a new pilot were to come to me and propose flying a large
plane on practical family trips soon after getting his license, I would
encourage him to instead gradually build experience in smaller airplanes.
That does not seem to be as common in boating however -- is it reasonable
for a relatively neophyte boater to rent a 40-50 foot boat as his first
venture into cruising? How much experience is reasonable before taking the
boat out alone?

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Richard Kaplan

www.flyimc.com