Is there any boating courses out there that a person can take to teach you
how to manuever a boat ? Kinda like a car driving school but one for boats ?
Just curious.

Thanks
Ed

"ed" wrote in message
...
Is there any boating courses out there that a person can take to teach you
how to manuever a boat ? Kinda like a car driving school but one for boats
? Just curious.

You can read it in a book, you can be taught it in a class but, you won't
really understand it until you are at the controls of a boat on the water
being exposed to wind, waves, current and a screaming wife.

"ed" wrote in message
...
Is there any boating courses out there that a person can take to teach you
how to manuever a boat ? Kinda like a car driving school but one for boats
? Just curious.

Thanks
Ed


I trust you have taken the US Power Squadron course on basic boating safety
and boat handling. If not, that should be your first step.

After completing a course pick up a book on basic boat handling.

After those first 2 steps you can hire a seasoned staff member at your
marina to do the hands on training in your boat.

Here is a link to classroom training resources other than Power Squadron,
but not sure if it is offered in your area:

http://www.chapman.org/training-prog...1000_2005.html

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 11:18:53 -0400, "Bert Robbins"
wrote:

You can read it in a book, you can be taught it in a class but, you won't
really understand it until you are at the controls of a boat on the water
being exposed to wind, waves, current and a screaming wife.

Most often, in my experience, it's a husband who will do the
screaming. In there defense, they're also usually the one who has all
the responsibilty for handling the boat, and in the screamers case,
they're usually not up to the task.

bb

Is there any boating courses out there that a person can take to teach
you
how to manuever a boat ?

************

No. You will need to rely on private instruction, aboard the boat you
plan to operate. One challenge is that each make and model of boat will
handle at least slightly differently, down to an including facts like
Brand X as built at the factory will handle differently than Brand X
with an additional 150 sq ft of optional canvas catching a cross wind.
Books and videos teach the general theory of docking on a perfectly
calm day with plenty of space available, but some boats behave very
differently from the examples the books and videos use, it is seldom a
perfectly calm day, and count on being required to side tie your
40-footer in a 50-foot gap along the face of the float more often than
not.

You can't simply hire the dock boy or some other marina worker to show
you the ropes. In fact, if you hire anybody, they need to be a licensed
master. You might want to give that fact some serious consideration, as
should something go so wrong during the training that your insurance
company becomes involved you wouldn't want to give them a "fine print"
excuse to tell you to take your claim and shove off. You wil either pay
$ome big buck$ for profe$$ional training, or get taught by a volunteer.

The best source of volunteer training is available when you first
purchase the boat. If you buy it from a private party, that person has
quite a bit of experience handling that specific boat, and even though
he or she may not be a professional instructor they can probably give
some very good instruction based on a familiarity with that boat. If
you buy from a brokerage, ask the broker to give you some basic
pointers in docking, line handling, etc. Not to represent yacht brokers
as the consumate seapersons, (many are not), but one skill that a
broker develops early on is the ability to manuever a broad variety of
boats around typically very crowded brokerage docks. As long as the
broker isn't getting paid for instructing, (and he isn't- he or she is
paid by the seller for sevices rendered and not by the buyer), you're
not jeopardizing your insurance coverage.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Is there any boating courses out there that a person can take to teach
you
how to manuever a boat ?

************

No. You will need to rely on private instruction, aboard the boat you
plan to operate. One challenge is that each make and model of boat will
handle at least slightly differently, down to an including facts like
Brand X as built at the factory will handle differently than Brand X
with an additional 150 sq ft of optional canvas catching a cross wind.
Books and videos teach the general theory of docking on a perfectly
calm day with plenty of space available, but some boats behave very
differently from the examples the books and videos use, it is seldom a
perfectly calm day, and count on being required to side tie your
40-footer in a 50-foot gap along the face of the float more often than
not.

You can't simply hire the dock boy or some other marina worker to show
you the ropes. In fact, if you hire anybody, they need to be a licensed
master.

Wrong. I hired one of the marina owners to teach my wife to dock and
maneuver our 32 footer....I did not have the patience.

And who would ever think of hiring the dock boy Chuck?

Wrong. I hired one of the marina owners to teach my wife to dock and
maneuver our 32 footer....I did not have the patience.

***************

Simply because you did something, that doesn't make the practice
correct.
Unless the marina owner was a licensed master (coulda been, but the
qualification you suggested was merely "a marina employee" and the
majority of marinas probably don't have even a single licensed master
on staff) hiring that person to do training was a violation of the law
and almost certainly of your insurance coverage. You got away with it,
(assuming the marina owner wasn't a licensed master), because nothing
happened. Suggesting others do the same is like recommending Russian
Roulette, "I did it, once, and nothing happened so everybody else
should follow my example."

Who would hire the dock boy? Somebody hoping to get the job done by the
lowest bidder.
However, if you want to refute my statement, you might experiment with
including the entire phrase........."You can't simply hire the dock boy
or some other marina worker to show you the ropes...."

As you will now reply with "where did I say the marina owner wasn't a
licensed master?", I'll save you the keystrokes and admit that you did
not. However, if you knew enough to be sure the person you hired had
the appropriate license, you should have included that specification in
your advice, not merely suggested a "marina employee" to teach docking
and seamanship aboard a boat.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Wrong. I hired one of the marina owners to teach my wife to dock and
maneuver our 32 footer....I did not have the patience.

***************

Simply because you did something, that doesn't make the practice
correct.

And simply because you say it is wrong does not mean you are correct.


Unless the marina owner was a licensed master (coulda been, but the
qualification you suggested was merely "a marina employee" and the
majority of marinas probably don't have even a single licensed master
on staff) hiring that person to do training was a violation of the law
and almost certainly of your insurance coverage.

Oh oh.......I am in trouble. And I allowed friends to drive my boat too. I
better hide now.

You got away with it,
(assuming the marina owner wasn't a licensed master), because nothing
happened. Suggesting others do the same is like recommending Russian
Roulette, "I did it, once, and nothing happened so everybody else
should follow my example."

Bull crap.



Who would hire the dock boy? Somebody hoping to get the job done by the
lowest bidder.

And in some cases the dock person (why do you call him *boy*?) may have more
experience in boating than the operators of the boats he/she is refueling or
pumping out.


However, if you want to refute my statement, you might experiment with
including the entire phrase........."You can't simply hire the dock boy
or some other marina worker to show you the ropes...."

As you will now reply with "where did I say the marina owner wasn't a
licensed master?", I'll save you the keystrokes and admit that you did
not. However, if you knew enough to be sure the person you hired had
the appropriate license, you should have included that specification in
your advice, not merely suggested a "marina employee" to teach docking
and seamanship aboard a boat.


Chuck you are a do-gooder through and through.

Have a nice day. Go ruin another thread.

Chuck you are a do-gooder through and through.

Have a nice day. Go ruin another thread.


************

JimH, the only way I *ruined* this thread was by clarifying some very
poorly worded and incorrect advice dispensed by a non-boater. It may
have ruined it for *you*, but this is supposed to be a boating NG and
people who ask questions about boats or boating deserve correct and
complete answers.

The only times you are more hilarious than when you're sneaking around
the corner with your harpoon ready to toss at the folks on your list of
"undesirables" is when you attempt to give boating advice. In the last
few days we have seen "look up the value of a 30-year old boat in NADA,
as it might only be worth $1000 instead of $1500"....... and "hire one
of the employees at the marina to teach you to operate your
boat".....followed on with "the dock PERSON likely knows more about
boats and boat handling than many of the people he or she is fueling
up."

wrote in message
oups.com...
Chuck you are a do-gooder through and through.

Have a nice day. Go ruin another thread.


************

followed on with "the dock PERSON likely knows more about
boats and boat handling than many of the people he or she is fueling
up."


Where did I say that Chuck? Making up lies again?