Vic Smith wrote in
:

Always be attentive.


Along that thought, I'd like to plug this into your thinking.....

Suppose you are in one corner of a 1/4 full WalMart parking lot that has
no malls to obstruct any path you take. Noone is watching and you want
to go to the other corner by driving across the lot, not following the
little lane lines painted on the ground. We've all done it.

Notice how carefully you drive kitty corner across the parking lot, very
carefully looking out to see if anyone from any other direction is on a
collision course with you. Notice how, every time you come to a vehicle
that blocks your wide vision, you slow down even a little and look around
him to make sure another car isn't hidden by the stupid SUVbeast some mom
parked there. You arrive on the other side of the parking lot, having
successfully pulled this off, spitting in the face of the authority who
painted the lanes, and feel a great sigh of relief you made it without
hitting anything.

That's EXACTLY how you should drive your pretty new boat across the
harbor, carefully picking your way across the lanes, marked or unmarked,
used by the rest of us. There's only one difference. You must also look
UNDER your boat to make sure the bottom isn't coming up to meet your keel
and that amazingly expensive underwater propulsion unit with the prop
screwed onto it. Think of it as a roof over the Walmart parking lot
that, in odd places, comes almost down to the pavement as if it has
collapsed. It's just upside down from the bottom of the harbor in the
boat. Don't hesitate to install a SONAR to help you look DOWN. You
can't see the bottom from where you're sitting unless you buy a glass-
bottomed boat!...(c;

You'll do fine. You're thinking! That puts you in the top 10% of the
people behind boat steering wheels, already!...(c; Thanks for
thinking...

Larry
--
Halloween candy sure has dropped in price, lately!