To you, from one of our most experienced Captains here at Peconic Boat Club,
- Avoid tunnel vision. Keep your head on a swivel and pan your surroundings every 15 seconds or so while driving in open water. Looking out in front and side to side will help you identify any upcoming obstacles (boats, buoys, big boat wakes, land) early, and give you plenty of time to plan your course around them. Other boats can approach quicker than you think, so make sure to looking well ahead, not just in the area immediately surrounding the boat.
- Use the GPS for guidance and don’t get caught looking down all the time. It’s easy to get sucked into the screen, but remember that it’s what’s out beyond the windscreen that is of ultimate importance. Use the GPS mainly to reference depth and upcoming obstacles, and plot your course. Do not use it as a substitute for the real world! Whenever unsure, always use Red, Right, Return.
-Don’t get distracted while near shore. Remember, the boat is always moving, even when it is in neutral so you are always floating towards… something.
- Motor trim should be 15%-25% when running in open water and 75%-100% when exiting and entering your dock.
- Use your ‘Navigation Lights’ button for any driving after 7pm. At this point, you should already be on your way home.
- After swimming, make sure the swim platform is pulled in before restarting the motor.
- Keep a jug of water on the boat to clear off salt from the wind screen.
- Have lines and fenders ready well in advance of approaching the dock. Don’t forget to take them back in the boat after departure.
- When docking, start very slow. Only add power and speed as needed to maintain control of the steering. Read the wind on approach and use it to your advantage, setting the boat in position to let the wind help you into the dock. Do not fight the wind, it will usually win. Identify early if you might be coming into a bad position near the dock so you can back out, find open water, circle around and make a new approach.
Anchoring:
- Start with the anchor ready, on deck, and ensure anchor line is not tangled.
- Maintain bow into the wind at slow speed.
- Shoot to anchor in ~10ft of water.
- While under 1mph, throw anchor forward over bow and bring throttle to a slow, straight reverse for just a few seconds to get the boat moving back away from the anchor. The wind should take care of the rest of the backup.
- Keep the anchor line taught, letting it slide through your hands. When only 10ft of line left give line a good tug to set the anchor in the bottom. You should feel the boat be pulled towards the anchor, not the anchor towards the boat.
- Once anchor is set, get it tied off on the upwind bow cleat.
- Use points of reference on land or the GPS zoom trick to make sure anchor is set and boat is not dragging.
- Turn off motor before swimming.
Tying up the boat:
- Tie up the boat so there is always a line holding the boat from moving any further forward, and a different line holding the boar from going any further backwards on the dock.
- If you’ve tied up and the lines are all running in the same direction, add a line running opposite direction.
- Here is a link to a video showing how to tie the lines to a cleat on the dock, otherwise known as a ‘cleat hitch’. Use a spare line and unused cleat to practice this with the boys when you have some down time! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdu1xuJpJEw