Lack of Boating Courtesy All My Fault
Sunday, July 01, 2007

That’s right- it’s my fault. The 25’ cruiser that blasted your marina with a wake this past weekend was all my fault. No, I wasn’t driving. I wasn’t even in the boat. But it was still my fault. Let me go back to the beginning and explain…

Although my father had boats when I was little, I was too young to really learn the unwritten rules of the river from him. He then sold his last boat before I hit the age of 6 and it would be another 16 years before I proudly bought my first boat.

Before I launched it for the first time, I took a boating safety course offered by the Coast Guard Auxiliary. While I had a pretty good feel for all of the information they passed on to me, I still had so much to learn. While I feel the safety course was invaluable and every boater should have to complete it before taking the helm, the course only covers the basics.

As with everything, there are unwritten rules that need to be passed down. I was lucky enough to have a few experienced boaters take me under their wing and show me the things that aren’t written in books or taught in classes.

There was Tom at my marina. He helped me get into boating and then offered to take me out and show me how to tie up my boat, use the trim correctly, and perform routine maintenance amongst other countless little lessons.

I also can’t forget about the guy at Troll’s, the bar/restaurant that is now Redfin Blues. He offered to take me out and show me the finer points of docking in close quarters and the somewhat lost art of the spring line. These are all valuable lessons that I still keep with me today.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the reason that boat waked your entire marina is because I didn’t take the time to pass along my experiences and knowledge with that new boater at my marina. I need to take the time to go over to him/her and introduce myself and offer assistance.

I truly believe that most of the traditional courtesies that are broken everyday are done so out of ignorance. A lot of new boaters just don’t know any better. This means that I must do a better job getting around and talking to all of the new boaters.

This shouldn’t be a problem. There are over 25,000 boats registered in Allegheny County alone. I’ll estimate that one fifth are owned by novice boaters. That leaves me with only 5,000 boaters to offer assistance to. Hmmm. That doesn’t include all of the boats in the surrounding counties.

I may need a little help.

If you are an experienced boater, please take the time to just offer up some advice to the “new guy” down the dock from you. Most boaters will surely take you up on a little free advice. Just remember, as my wife reminds me often, “it’s not always what you say, it’s how you say it.” So don’t try to be an old, know-it-all, salty dog; just offer to share your experience and knowledge of the unwritten rules with those that don’t know yet.

For those of you reading this that are novice boaters, don’t be afraid to ask for some help. Find out who the most experienced boaters are at your marina and ask them to show you the ropes. Most boaters would be happy to help.

Let’s face it, yelling obscenities at the captain of that cruiser from your dock probably won’t work. He/she probably doesn’t know what they are doing wrong. I yelled for a boater to slow down the other day. He was only 20 feet from the marina and throwing a nice sized wake from his cruiser. The guy lovingly responded, “Blow it out you’re a@%!!!” If someone at his marina would have offered him some advice he may have slowed down earlier.

Let me finish by saying that I am not perfect. I have waked a few marinas and done some stupid stuff in my years of boating. But I try to keep those mistakes to a minimum. If all of the experienced boaters can do this and just offer some help to the novice boaters, the Three Rivers would be a much better place to boat for all of us.

Submitted by: BoatPittsburgh.com Staff

Back to All Articles