By Pat Webb Organizing committee

Posted Thursday, March 31, 2006

Mooch's Common Sense Guide to Good Boating

 1. Be conscience and considerate of others. This includes other boats and boaters and the passengers in your boat. It's not funny to hit that throttle and watch people fall overboard.

If someone is docking, loading or unloading, slow down. Watch your wake. Remember, plowing is worse than planeing. If you can't slow down to a no wake situation, don't plow, plane.

 2. Boat ramps. Very few of us have private boat ramps. If you're not one of the lucky ones who do, then don't treat the public one like your own. Refer to rule 1. When you back into a ramp, be ready to unload your boat. This is not the time to put on the cooler, load the passengers or check the pressure in your tires. Get the boat in and get out of the way. Same goes for loading the boat. Get it on and get out of the way. Clear the ramp for the next user.This causes more ill feelings than anything I know of in boating. Be Considerate. It really shouldn't take more than 3 minutes to load or unload a boat at a ramp. Be careful, be prepared, get r done.

3. Know what safety equipment you need to carry and carry it, know  the rules and regs of safe boating and practice them always. You never know when that noise maker might actually save the day, or your life. Refer to rule 1. Be considerate. The passengers in your boat are YOUR responsibility. They depend on you to know what you are doing, don't let them down.

4. Odds and Ends. We have a lot of skiers and wakeboarders on the river. Please folks, when you are picking up ANYONE in the water, ALWAYS,ALWAYS kill the motor before they climb on board. Neutral does not stop a prop from turning. A severed foot, leg, arm or any other appendage can totally ruin a fun day on the river. A stray wave from another boat can knock you into the gearshift and activate it before you know whats happening. KILL the engine! Planeing fins on boats are not steps. Be sure to have a planned and proper boarding technique established before trying to board someone. A wet foot, slipping off the planeing fins of a motor heads straight for the prop. Not a pretty outcome.

5. Be considerate of others. I cannot express this one enough. This is the golden rule.

A little tidbit for you. Did you know that just like the words right and left, starboard, which is right side,  has more letters in it than port. The green light on the bow, which is on the right, has more letters in it than red, on the left side. Everything to do with right has more letters than its counter part on the left. Easy way to remember.

Have fun, boat safely, and Be considerate. (Oh yea, try not to run out of gas, that's my gig)

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