BOATING TIPS -- APRIL 1993
Scary Skippers

Well, Opening Day here at our Club is almost here, and the new School of Boating created by Fleet Captain Steve Ross is a timely reminder to all of us that we still have a lot to learn before this season, and every season!

I was having a conversation the other day with a very experienced sailor, a guy who has not only sailed a lot of 20-to-30-foot sloops, but also been a delivery skipper for magnificent yachts in the over-70-foot range, as well. We spent a few minutes chatting about "ways to spot a novice, or negligent, boat operator". I thought you might like to have a similar conversation with one of your boating buddies ... or with yourself! We called these operators "scary skippers" because of the way our hearts went pitter-pat when we saw their antics!

We both agreed that the number one tip-off to a scary skipper is "fast operation of a boat". In any close conditions, but especially in a harbor, there is no need for speed! Granted, most collisions with docks or with other boats are minor, but sometimes the impacts are terrifying, and the force of water from wakes is amazing: just one cubic foot of water weighs over 62 pounds! So the skilled guys go slow, dead slow, and are not reluctant to stop well off a dock to size up the situation, prepare fenders, get lines ready, etc.

Another scary-skipper alert: "poor crew communications". Good skippers have a plan for their boat operations, and have communicated that plan before it has to be put into effect! Next time you see a couple come up to a dock quietly, and the mate smoothly ties up the boat while the helmsperson proceeds with maneuvering in a deliberate, organized way, notice how they talk to one another: probably, their conversation will be in specific, courteous tones. If you talk to them, I think you'll learn that they have a routine they have discussed, understand, and follow religiously.

And then, of course, there's "the skipper who's always partying"! We all know that most boating accidents that cause injury or death involve alcohol; why do we tolerate these guys who spoil boating's otherwise good safety record, and cause so many restrictions to be promulgated? Let's make sure that the hand at the helm doesn't hold any drinks before the end of the watch --- especially on Opening Day!

Finally, we talked about "the skipper unconcerned with emergency preparation". This includes not only the folks who don't have the appropriate safety equipment, but also those who have it, but it's out of date, inaccessible, in bad repair, or they don't know how to use it or have never practiced. And it also includes those skippers who haven't told their passengers and crew where the stuff is! (A life jacket is useless if no one can find it.) Every skipper should have a brief "speech" at the beginning of each trip with the boat's "rules". Things like "No going up or down ladders or around the outside of the boat without telling the helmsman what you're doing." And so on. Sensible stuff. (It's a good time to tell them about the marine head's idiosyncrasies, too; if you're a safe skipper, it's going to be your most likely source of trouble!)

"Now is the time." Resolve not to be a scary skipper this year!

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