Boating in the fun park
October 16th 2006 19:44
Well now it is time to look at how we can enjoy ourselves on the water without having to take our toys home with us. To digress slightly, some trailer boats are huge and do get taken home. I consider any boat on a double axle trailer or more to be huge. I honestly don't know how people can trail them but they do and often. Yachts, cruisers and house boats. I take my hat off to them.
The idea of leaving your boat in the water is to have less drama involved when it is time to go sailing or cruising. Just row or motor out to your boat or if you are lucky or can afford it, step aboard at the marina. Hoist the sails or turn the key and you are off. No putting up masts, dropping boats off trailers and looking for extra long parking spots for car and trailer.
Of course your boat has been at the beck and call of every bird worth its salt and they have probably left their calling cards spread all over your deck. How ever a few buckets of seawater slopped about will soon clear that off. Please be aware that smothering your boat in netting can be dangerous to birds as they can get tangled in it. It also makes it a little harder for people to come on board stealthily and borrow your best scotch, dvd player, winch handles, radios and so on.
I have an alarm on my boat and have given some of the guys that live aboard their boats the turn off code but unfortunately they can't hear the alarm when they are down below on their own boat. So if it goes off I have to wait for an irate phone call from residents or for the battery to go flat. Yes there are more modern ones that will photograph the intruder and telephone a base station with details but who can realy afford that? Has anyone thought how boats were ever called boats.
Bring Out Another Thousand! simple.
Now we are off enjoying what we call our chill out time. do we realy chill out or are you the kind of skipper/owner that starts to worry the moment you drop the mooring bouy? can I say that the only person that needs to worry is the one that has forgoten to do something or is perhaps a little shy about their ability as a sailor.
As far as ability is concerned that mostly comes with experience. the more often you do something the more chance of gaining experience. Be careful you don't create bad habits. I taught myself to sail, then sailed for other skippers on race boats and then when I decided I wanted some commercial licences had to relearn everything I thought I knew, due to bad habits I had developed
Next let us consider the plan for departure so we don't forget anything and a few tips on bad habits.
The idea of leaving your boat in the water is to have less drama involved when it is time to go sailing or cruising. Just row or motor out to your boat or if you are lucky or can afford it, step aboard at the marina. Hoist the sails or turn the key and you are off. No putting up masts, dropping boats off trailers and looking for extra long parking spots for car and trailer.
Of course your boat has been at the beck and call of every bird worth its salt and they have probably left their calling cards spread all over your deck. How ever a few buckets of seawater slopped about will soon clear that off. Please be aware that smothering your boat in netting can be dangerous to birds as they can get tangled in it. It also makes it a little harder for people to come on board stealthily and borrow your best scotch, dvd player, winch handles, radios and so on.
I have an alarm on my boat and have given some of the guys that live aboard their boats the turn off code but unfortunately they can't hear the alarm when they are down below on their own boat. So if it goes off I have to wait for an irate phone call from residents or for the battery to go flat. Yes there are more modern ones that will photograph the intruder and telephone a base station with details but who can realy afford that? Has anyone thought how boats were ever called boats.
Now we are off enjoying what we call our chill out time. do we realy chill out or are you the kind of skipper/owner that starts to worry the moment you drop the mooring bouy? can I say that the only person that needs to worry is the one that has forgoten to do something or is perhaps a little shy about their ability as a sailor.
As far as ability is concerned that mostly comes with experience. the more often you do something the more chance of gaining experience. Be careful you don't create bad habits. I taught myself to sail, then sailed for other skippers on race boats and then when I decided I wanted some commercial licences had to relearn everything I thought I knew, due to bad habits I had developed
Next let us consider the plan for departure so we don't forget anything and a few tips on bad habits.
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