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By Kim Kavin — Spring 2005
FORT MYERS, FLORIDA—A warm breeze envelops the
Grand Banks 36 Blue Note as I sit
atop her flying bridge with Dennis O’Neill, former associate publisher
of Voyaging. He’s a longtime
magazine man and a novice boater who just finished his first eight hours
of a weeklong, hands-on training course. The highlight of day one: backing
Blue Note into a tight slip in 10
knots of wind—without so much as a scuff on a piling. The dazzle
in his eyes is electrifying. He’s empowered.
I expect to see the same gaze all along the docks at
the upcoming Miami International Boat Show, as folks find boats they love
and can afford. The difference is that in far too many cases, their empowerment
will come from financial ability, not from knowledge of how to actually
handle the powerful machines.
Mark Rosenker, vice chairman of the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), sees similar looks on boaters’
faces all the time. He’s even seen it in his own mirror. “When
I bought my boat,” he said in a recent speech, “the only question
asked of me was, ‘When do you want it delivered?’” He was
shocked. After all, to drive a car, you need to prove that you understand
the rules of the road. He says fewer than 40 states have mandatory boater
education, and the NTSB’s goal is to push that number right up to
50. The board is also studying U.S. Coast Guard statistics concerning
boating accidents in states with mandatory schooling.
It’s a safe bet that if the data shows a correlation
between fewer accidents and more education, everyone who wants to take
the helm will be required to take a classroom course first.
But would that be enough? O’Neill sat in a classroom
and earned a certificate before signing up for hands-on training with
Florida Sailing & Cruising School
(www.flsailandcruiseschool.com).
He thought he had a decent grip on things until about an hour into day
one, when his instructor picked up Blue Note’s
anchor chain and showed him how it should lay underwater so as not to
foul the hook. “I think we covered this in my other class,”
O’Neill said. “But I didn’t really get it until now.”
Hours later, with a little oil under his fingernails, he admitted, “What
I just learned is how far I have to go.”
Such hands-on courses are available for beginners nationwide,
from sunny Southwest Florida (see
story) to California wine country (see
sidebar). The Annapolis Powerboat School
(www.annapolissailing.com)
offers training in Chesapeake Bay, as does the women’s school Sea
Sense (www.seasenseboating.com),
which also teaches in New England, Florida, the Pacific Northwest, the
Bahamas, and Europe. For a state-by-state list of beginner courses, contact
the National Association of State Boating Law
Administrators (www.nasbla.org).
Not a novice? There are also experts who teach experienced
boaters moving up to bigger and more complex boats.
Capt. Russ Cohen opened Boatboy
Marine Training (www.boatboymarinetraining.com)
in New Jersey a few years ago, and today he has clients as far south as
Florida. “We deal with a lot of move-up buyers, from a single engine
to a twin engine, from a 25-footer to a 40- or 50-footer,” he says.
“It’s going to be a new boat for them and a new way of handling
that boat. We can spend three or four hours, or whatever they see as necessary,
to acclimate them to their new boat.”
This kind of hands-on education just plain makes sense.
The NTSB’s idea of mandatory classroom education is good, but it’s
no more than a start. Onboard training is far more effective. Every new
boater—and some skippers moving up—should complete at least
a few hours of hands-on training aboard his own boat or in a liveaboard
classroom.
Hands down, it’s the smartest option of them all.
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