Getting Started with Boating: My Journey and Your First Steps
In this blog, I will tell the story about my background on the water and offer suggestions for your initial steps into the world of boating.
I grew up in the port city of Baltimore, Maryland. As noted in my first blog, I started boating on the Chesapeake Bay around the age of 10. Over the years, I slowly accumulated time on boats owned by friends and acquaintances. These vessels included runabouts (around 15 ft—ideal for water skiing or fishing), small sailboats known as “day sailors” (around 20 ft), and progressively larger vessels. Then I attended the Annapolis Sailing School (annapolissailing.com), which is still around and offers excellent 2- and 3-day courses for beginning sailors and powerboaters (I have a diploma for their 3-day sailing course from May 1978).
If you are enjoying the water activities, you may want to advance to larger vessels. The point of getting involved in larger vessels is to overnight on board and have guests accompany you on trips. After chartering a few vessels, I was having sufficient fun to purchase my first boat, which was a 17-foot ski boat. Soon enough, I purchased a one-third ownership interest in a 30-foot Bristol sailboat. Over the years, I have owned fifteen boats, from an 8-foot dinghy to a 61-foot Hatteras motor yacht. I never met a boat I did not like!
After accumulating many hours on the Bay, and after digesting many books, I decided to study for a US Coast Guard Commercial Captain’s License. This allows license holders to take paying passengers on vessels up to a certain tonnage. Examples of this type of vessel include commercial fishing boats, private charter boats, and water taxis. In my case, I obtained a 50-ton Captain’s License with a Masters Upgrade.
Most of my experience has been on the Chesapeake Bay, although I have made 2 trips up the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) from Florida to Maryland, which involves some ocean sailing.
On your mark, get set, go!
In my opinion, the best way to get a start in boating is to find a friend, a neighbor, or a relative with a boat. Let them know you are an amateur, but express a willingness to help. Most boat owners are happy to have an extra hand, and many will take pride in teaching you some basics. By finding a friend with a boat to gain some basic experience, you have little invested, and if you do not like the exercise, you can walk away and not look back.
I would recommend a little background reading so you are not a total klutz. Check out some basic books on boating in our “Library” on this website. Also, you should know a few terms which are common to both sail and power boats, for example:
- Bow – the front portion of a vessel
- Stern – the back portion of a vessel
- Port – the left side of a vessel when facing forward
- Starboard – the right side of a vessel when facing forward
- Cleat – a metallic fixture on a boat or pier to which a line (rope) is attached
- Hull – the main body of the boat including the bottom and sides
- Inboard engine – an engine (gasoline or diesel) positioned inside the hull
- Outboard engine – an engine (gasoline) positioned on the stern of the boat outside the hull
In our next blog, we will continue our introduction with more basic information.
Captain Mike