“You can tell a new boater when”

And then there is the new dock mate (someone mentioned him on this thread, asking a lot of question, etc.) who wants to help you every time you depart and arrive at your slip. Grabbing things, yanking on things, etc. They always get a friendly "NO THANKS" from me, "WE GOT IT". Same thing at the fuel/pump out dock. That one new person who grabs my bow, pulls it in, before I have time to secure the stern and then I have to ask them to let some line out.
 
mrsrobinson said:
I'm walking around my neighborhood right now looking at all the things first time homeowners do to their yard and house, thinking about this post. Having owned my share of houses, I chuckle at the things they're doing.
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just wait till they have to call someone like me to fix it, they always say the guy before them told them that was the way to do the job.
 
FootballFan said:
Must be a common occurrence.

I remember 12+ years ago. We were still fairly new to coastal cruising. Did a ton of bare boat charters which always included a walk through with a captain checking us out on the boat.

It was consistent - always a point of emphasis - never throw a line that you don't have secured to the boat before you throw it. I remember thinking to myself - duh - but I guess it is consistent problem.
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I'll see your non-attached dock line, and raise you. One time early in my career I pulled the boat in with a bit of a wind blowing me off the dock. I figured I'd hop off of the boat and tie up. Only problem, I didn't grab any lines. Watching the boat quickly drift into my neighbor I made a leap for it. Just made it back on the boat and recovered. :)
 
mrsrobinson said:
I'm walking around my neighborhood right now looking at all the things first time homeowners do to their yard and house, thinking about this post. Having owned my share of houses, I chuckle at the things they're doing.
Click to expand...
Oh thank god we got a new neighbor! PO had a Lexus with fart pipe in driveway right next to my bedroom. Every morning 6am he’d start the car and the big painting above my bed rattled. New young guy bought the house last week. Has an electric mustang. I finally found a reason to love EVs.
 
I won't be the one to say that I've never made a mistake because I have everybody was a new boater at one time but now I just try to be cautious careful and make sure that everybody stays safe that's my job as Captain
 
Steve S said:
True confession... When I bought the 400DB, I took some friends from church out for a cruise and we spent the day on Lake Michigan and cruised to downtown Chicago. Before departing I gave a briefing on safety, head use and specifically showed the two guys how to setup a line thru the cleat by putting the eye thru the center and hooking over the cleat. They show me after my demonstration. I am satisfied they can handle the lines.... <Big mistake - too much confidence>
As we depart, lines get stowed into a locker.

We get back to the marina... Yep, you guessed it... the first guy throws a line to a dock hand without attaching it...

The second guy has ignored the heavy duty coiled lines and grabbed a yellow, 3 braid nylon clothesline type rope. I didn't even know that it was in the locker. He can't attach it to the cleat because there isn't a loop on the end... he tosses it to a dock hand... who promptly asks "what am I going to do with this"? "I cannot pull in a 12 ton boat with this..." and he tosses it back to the guy...luckily, there wasn't any real wind to cause any issues and I got close enough for dock hands to grab the rails....
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This is why my travel lines remain firmly attached to the cleats at all times. I just store them on the rail

 
bobeast said:
This is why my travel lines remain firmly attached to the cleats at all times. I just store them on the rail

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As are mine now.... And I travel mostly with trained crew now (my daughter) and she is well versed in handling lines and tying off the boat...
 
Steve S said:
As are mine now.... And I travel mostly with trained crew now (my daughter) and she is well versed in handling lines and tying off the boat...
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My wife and kids won't let me tie up the boat since my heart attack. I have trained them over the years to have the lines attached to the cleats on the boat as soon as we hit the no wake buoy at the entrance to our marina. If they forget, I gently remind them.
 
Same here it's usually just me and my wife I have my ropes and fenders already on the boat as soon as I get into the channel headed back to the dock and I also keep one of those telescoping hooks and just in case there's an emergency or a little wind they are a great help
 
highslice said:
My wife and kids won't let me tie up the boat since my heart attack. I have trained them over the years to have the lines attached to the cleats on the boat as soon as we hit the no wake buoy at the entrance to our marina. If they forget, I gently remind them.
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When we are headed into a marina and call to get slip assignment I find out what kind of slip, what are the tie up options. Wife then starts rigging lines before we get there for whichever side will be the first side for us to put lines out.

If this is stern in, she rigs both bow lines, then brings the bitter end back to the wide side of the boat. When I start back in the slip, I pause when the wide part of the boat is even with the outer pilings, position the boat back and forth so she can reach the pilings with the lines very loose. We then move back in the slip, setting the length of the bow lines after we are in place.
 
FootballFan said:
When we are headed into a marina and call to get slip assignment I find out what kind of slip, what are the tie up options. Wife then starts rigging lines before we get there for whichever side will be the first side for us to put lines out.

If this is stern in, she rigs both bow lines, then brings the bitter end back to the wide side of the boat. When I start back in the slip, I pause when the wide part of the boat is even with the outer pilings, position the boat back and forth so she can reach the pilings with the lines very loose. We then move back in the slip, setting the length of the bow lines after we are in place.
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Same, started doing that this year. I will try to find out were the dock cleats will be, what side power will be on, what side of the boat will be on the dock, fixed versus floating, etc. before we even depart our home slip.
 
I forgot one...

The new boater that is at the marina every day, usually just sitting and staring at the boat. Not much boating, just lots of looking.

There's plenty of puttering but very little digging in to familiarize himself. I always watch for the balance to come between time spent at the boat and a decline in questions but it's a slow process.
 
Soulshine said:
I forgot one...

The new boater that is at the marina every day, usually just sitting and staring at the boat. Not much boating, just lots of looking.

There's plenty of puttering but very little digging in to familiarize himself. I always watch for the balance to come between time spent at the boat and a decline in questions but it's a slow process.
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Ha, I know that person well, one sits two slips down from me. He figured out how to turn the radio on a couple of weeks ago, that was an hour of fun for us.
 
mrsrobinson said:
Ha, I know that person well, one sits two slips down from me. He figured out how to turn the radio on a couple of weeks ago, that was an hour of fun for us.
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Are you guys watching me? :) I can't tell you how challenging it's been to learn my new boat. So much more complicated than my old Chris Craft.
 
This guy was a hoot, his 12ish year old son was on the boat with him. I was in the engine compartment, hear all this noise/yelling at the stern, freak out, jump out, see the dad yelling at the kid. The kid has some kind of battery operated toy that went out of control on the dock. He looks at my exhaust hose on the dock, asks "What's that?" I told him, he replies "That looks heavy, do you need any help?" I so wanted to say "No, not now, I already got it to the dock..."

What was interesting is his choice of music definitely did not match him. I am guessing he could not figure out how to change the channel but felt cool letting it play.

Later I see him wiping random things down. And he is hosing off the stern, no spray nozzle, just water running/dropping on it.

I laugh, but yeah, I was that guy, but only once ;-)
 
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