Twelve percent of captains admit not being able to restart
their motor because they accidentally left the kill switch on.

Or left it in gear.

Stormy Weather
Twenty-two percent of boaters say they've underestimated the severity
of an approaching storm. Ten percent say they've left the dock
without first checking the weather forecast.

Got our asses tossed all over the Bay on July 4th. 35mph WOT doesn't beat
56 knot gusts from a summer squall line...

So I bought a Raymarine SR100 sirius weather rig for our E-80. Hooked it up
just this last week. Out on Sunday and it started getting a bit cloudy.
Looked at the weather radar and saw a NASTY bit of heavy storm activity
headed precisely where we'd be going if we tried leaving. Saw only a bit of
rain showing for our anchorage. Stayed put, got about a half-hour's worth
of light rain and it completely cleared up. We stayed another two hours to
grill dinner.

Followed the animated weather radar maps and it showed the storm getting
even worse exactly in what would have been our path. Had we only done this
on the 4th... What was nice about the Sirius was it showing not just
weather radar but also wind directions. While you can get nexrad on your
phone, it's low-res, small, doesn't show wind/waves and it ain't waterproof.
Same deal with trying to get the same stuff on a laptop with a cellular data
hookup. This way it's integrated right into the chartplotter at the helm.
Best gadget yet for the boat!

-Bill Kearney