The Boat Fanatic Thread

[Cajun 11675]

Not really.

I work for the Cartels.

;-)

[Handcruser 2805]

^^Very wise.  Out on open water I have no problem taking the controls on one of those big daddies, but bringing it into dock?  Hell no.
I'm still getting used to the difference between putting my old Nautique and this new MC on the trailer.
Classic bow vs pickle fork really makes a much bigger difference than I had anticipated.

Told you man. They don’t track worth a shit at slow speeds. Drove me crazy.

Great boat. Lousy tracking.

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

Old Captain Jad would use these controls to dance the 55fter around Lake Travis Marina and carols and Charlie’s. Damn amazing. No joysticks. No jets. 
 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by ChickenSandwich

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

Was also on a 100ft house boat that ran into the dock at Carlos and Charlie’s and cut power and cable to all of the live in slips. Dude had to cut a huge check but cops didn’t arrest anyone. 
 

*I assume the lake Travis grizzled vets also knew of the shaggin shack the owner of C&C was using to “interview” the help under the restaurant. 
 

If I remember correctly, side piece fought family for money when owner died in I think a power boat race. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by ChickenSandwich

[G650 14106]

11 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

This is my fear of potentially being a first time boat owner and buying something bigger.  Obviously not that big, but I’m gonna try to hire a retired captain or something like that to hang out with me for a month and help me avoid ending up on youtube.

I will put you in touch with my buddy down in Chucktown who is a boat captain. He'd be happy to help.

 

Docking in Charleston can be an adventure because the current rips hard.

[Pescado_Rojo 19331]

16 hours ago, Cajun said:

Anytime I've been out in deep water, no matter whether if it has been Cabo, Hawaii, the Caribbean, or GOM, if a Viking comes within view I can't take my eyes off of it.  

Something about 'em.

My stepdad’s family all live in NJ, and one summer his mom rented a house in Cape May for a big family reunion. The second weekend we were going to be there there was a big money billfish tournament being hosted out of Cape May marina, so I went down there during the week to check out some of the battle wagons. One of the yacht dealers there had a brand new 54’ Viking express on display, and goddamn that was a sexy boat. I know, air conditioned salon on a fly bridge is huge, but Fuckin’ A I love express boats. 

[Cajun 11675]

Something about the stretch of a Viking's bow.

Looks like a surgeon's scalpel slicing the ocean perfectly.

[Armybrat 40740]

13 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Was also on a 100ft house boat that ran into the dock at Carlos and Charlie’s and cut power and cable to all of the live in slips. Dude had to cut a huge check but cops didn’t arrest anyone. 
 

*I assume the lake Travis grizzled vets also knew of the shaggin shack the owner of C&C was using to “interview” the help under the restaurant. 

My ex-DIL worked as a manager at the C&C marina for a while 20 some years ago. 
She probably “interviewed” him. 😆

[Cajun 11675]

14 hours ago, Handcruser said:

Told you man. They don’t track worth a shit at slow speeds. Drove me crazy.

Great boat. Lousy tracking.

You weren't wrong.

At all.

I'm still not used to it.

[Cajun 11675]

If someone ever asks me about putting a pickle fork on a trailer vs traditional bow I'll just show 'em this -

[troph 24562]

21 hours ago, utee94 said:

Actual photo of troph's new instructor:

 

Yep. That was him. 
 

No wind, some wind, white caps. Whoa. More later.  More stressful than I expected.  

[troph 24562]

 

Okay so two glasses of really, really nice Bordeaux in me and my perspective has changed.  I feel accomplished.  First, mother nature is in control if you aren’t quick and if you don’t know what you are doing.  Wow, at the end of the day we had serious wind, white caps on the lake and we were heeling like @G650 in his race boat as were all the other sailboats out there (there were 4 of us right outside Lakeway marina).  Trying to keep the boat pointed into the wind while the instructor was lowering the sail was quite harrowing at times, especially with how significant the wind was at the end.  The sails luffing to an extreme and it was just stressful. 

 

US Sailing certification, fuck around and find out.  had my boys read some articles last night for vocab and we were off to the docks this morning.  island music going, good hearty breakfast.  spirits were high!

 

 

 

this was the easy vocab, he went to 100mph in no time on language, kids were lost, but we figured it out.

 

 

there was an even smaller boat so when they saw this one they were excited and relieved.  22 feet.  enough, really, we didn't want more today. ha.

 

 

 

Docking wasn’t that hard but with the lake low the route is quite circuitous, narrow most of the way, a complete uturn, swings to watch out for with the shrouds, just an obstacle course and probably less than 20 feet of space to manuver port to starboard (including the beam) for the whole boat as you came in to the approach to dock.  Didn’t help the motor was a little tiny 5 hp motor, super old school, had to handle that the whole way through the docking exercise (until the end when you went to neutral).  you can see how narrow it is there in the pic.

 

 

 

 

 

We did great, lots of tacking, tracking the wind, reading the gauge and just getting used to it.  the controls are fully manual so that was fun, no auto-tacking.  We did a little jibing and talked a lot of vocab.

 

Last round for the day, we took the boat from dock, out, sailed for 90 minutes, tacked back and forth, mostly beam reach to go left and right across the narrow lake, heeled that fucker like a champ, and we hauled some ass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, looking back on it, we fucking sailed by the end of the first day.

(instructor was horribad to be honest, and that was all I wanted to talk about before two glasses of wine)

Edited February 28, 2021 by troph

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

[troph 24562]

Shoulda done that to the instructor he has no business teaching kids. 

[Landomatic 3813]

14 hours ago, troph said:

Okay so two glasses of really, really nice Bordeaux in me and my perspective has changed.  I feel accomplished.  First, mother nature is in control if you aren’t quick and if you don’t know what you are doing.  Wow, at the end of the day we had serious wind, white caps on the lake and we were heeling like @G650 in his race boat as were all the other sailboats out there (there were 4 of us right outside Lakeway marina).  Trying to keep the boat pointed into the wind while the instructor was lowering the sail was quite harrowing at times, especially with how significant the wind was at the end.  The sails luffing to an extreme and it was just stressful. 

US Sailing certification, fuck around and find out.  had my boys read some articles last night for vocab and we were off to the docks this morning.  island music going, good hearty breakfast.  spirits were high!

this was the easy vocab, he went to 100mph in no time on language, kids were lost, but we figured it out.

there was an even smaller boat so when they saw this one they were excited and relieved.  22 feet.  enough, really, we didn't want more today. ha.

Docking wasn’t that hard but with the lake low the route is quite circuitous, narrow most of the way, a complete uturn, swings to watch out for with the shrouds, just an obstacle course and probably less than 20 feet of space to manuver port to starboard (including the beam) for the whole boat as you came in to the approach to dock.  Didn’t help the motor was a little tiny 5 hp motor, super old school, had to handle that the whole way through the docking exercise (until the end when you went to neutral).  you can see how narrow it is there in the pic.

We did great, lots of tacking, tracking the wind, reading the gauge and just getting used to it.  the controls are fully manual so that was fun, no auto-tacking.  We did a little jibing and talked a lot of vocab.

Last round for the day, we took the boat from dock, out, sailed for 90 minutes, tacked back and forth, mostly beam reach to go left and right across the narrow lake, heeled that fucker like a champ, and we hauled some ass.

 

 

In the end, looking back on it, we fucking sailed by the end of the first day.

(instructor was horribad to be honest, and that was all I wanted to talk about before two glasses of wine)

Good on you...for having some wine and looking at the bright side.

11 hours ago, troph said:

Shoulda done that to the instructor he has no business teaching kids. 

Can you switch instructors before your next session?

[Landomatic 3813]

On 2/26/2021 at 6:59 PM, Cajun said:

^^Yup, very first thing I thought of watching that.

I just can't imagine the helpless feeling being at the helm w/all that going on.

ooph

 

On 2/26/2021 at 7:21 PM, conVINCEd said:

This is my fear of potentially being a first time boat owner and buying something bigger.  Obviously not that big, but I’m gonna try to hire a retired captain or something like that to hang out with me for a month and help me avoid ending up on youtube.

 

On 2/26/2021 at 7:32 PM, Cajun said:

^^Very wise.  Out on open water I have no problem taking the controls on one of those big daddies, but bringing it into dock?  Hell no.

I'm still getting used to the difference between putting my old Nautique and this new MC on the trailer.

Classic bow vs pickle fork really makes a much bigger difference than I had anticipated.

Good lord how does a Captain who's qualified to drive that thing even get it into that situation in the first place?

I went round and round (with myself mostly) about this part of the buying decision.  Had a lot of people tell me that, once you get used to it, docking isn't that hard.  My first boat was really hard to dock, especially without a bow thruster, which went out after about the second use.  And once I really stepped back and looked at it, that portion of every time we went out was by far, our least enjoyable part and it wasn't even close.  Wife was a mess, fights happened, lots of words were said, wrecks were narrowly avoided (mostly), blood pressure was high.  It really just took the fun out of it for both of us.  So, we decided a joystick was a must have.  I tried on several boats that didn't have one to bring myself to just get one without it, but I just couldn't.  Hell, I'm having having heart palpitations just watching that boat hit that dock.

[troph 24562]

No on our way now.  Lost two of our crew for today, girlfriend and middle son, oldest and I are going to tough it out. Youngest is kind of oblivious he’s very interested.  Everyone loved it even though this guy was a total ass.  We have 24 total hours so 3 more days counting today.  Anyway lots of talk about boundaries and when a guy is an ass that’s about him not us so teaching moments not wasted.  Dreams of island life will get us through.

[Landomatic 3813]

1 minute ago, troph said:

No on our way now.  Lost two of our crew for today, girlfriend and middle son, oldest and I are going to tough it out. Youngest is kind of oblivious he’s very interested.  Everyone loved it even though this guy was a total ass.  We have 24 total hours so 3 more days counting today.  Anyway lots of talk about boundaries and when a guy is an ass that’s about him not us so teaching moments not wasted.  Dreams of island life will get us through.

Sounds like the fishing guide I chartered in the Keys that one time.  There's snarly old sailers, which I can handle, and then there's guys who are just dicks.  Good luck and have fun.

[troph 24562]

11 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Sounds like the fishing guide I chartered in the Keys that one time.  There's snarly old sailers, which I can handle, and then there's guys who are just dicks.  Good luck and have fun.

Let me put it this way, first time docking he told my nervous teenager - you cannot damage this boat. That was the only thing he heard. I ended up taking over that part of the lesson and taught him.  Hey bubba don’t worry about it you’ll do fine. When it’s easy and you’re going straight practice the next hard move in your mind. Then we talked through what was coming up, we practiced in our mind and he executed.  They guy just sat there and would say, you’re doing it wrong. That’s not what I told you to do and bullshit like that. If we didn’t do it right the first time he would get frustrated. He still doesn’t know our names. 

[troph 24562]

13 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Sounds like the fishing guide I chartered in the Keys that one time.  There's snarly old sailers, which I can handle, and then there's guys who are just dicks.  Good luck and have fun.

Let me put it this way, first time docking he told my nervous teenager - you cannot damage this boat. That was the only thing he heard. I ended up taking over that part of the lesson and taught him.  Hey bubba don’t worry about it you’ll do fine. When it’s easy and you’re going straight practice the next hard move in your mind. Then we talked through what was coming up, we practiced in our mind and he executed.  They guy just sat there and would say, you’re doing it wrong. That’s not what I told you to do and bullshit like that. If we didn’t do it right the first time he would get frustrated. He still doesn’t know our names. 

[Sbbruin 21734]

2 minutes ago, troph said:

Let me put it this way, first time docking he told my nervous teenager - you cannot damage this boat. That was the only thing he heard. I ended up taking over that part of the lesson and taught him.  Hey bubba don’t worry about it you’ll do fine. When it’s easy and you’re going straight practice the next hard move in your mind. Then we talked through what was coming up, we practiced in our mind and he executed.  They guy just sat there and would say, you’re doing it wrong. That’s not what I told you to do and bullshit like that. If we didn’t do it right the first time he would get frustrated. He still doesn’t know our names. 

As I’ve told my son a million times- slow and steady wins the race.  Keep just enough pace coming in to the slip as is necessary to maintain control.

[troph 24562]

2 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

As I’ve told my son a million times- slow and steady wins the race.  Keep just enough pace coming in to the slip as is necessary to maintain control.

Yep and this guy said nothing about that. No why’s just you’re doing it wrong. 

[fattyflattie 4636]

47 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

As I’ve told my son a million times- slow and steady wins the race.  Keep just enough pace coming in to the slip as is necessary to maintain control.

Yep. I’ve seen people (usually guides with thousands of annual hours) slide right into a dock at speed like parking a car, and it looks so damn smooth. But for someone who doesn’t literally live and work on the water, slowing down a bit is the key. Slamming into the dock seems like it would suck and be embarrassing, so slow and steady wins. 

[Landomatic 3813]

2 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Keep just enough pace coming in to the slip as is necessary to maintain control.

If it were only that easy.

[G650 14106]

18 hours ago, troph said:

 

Okay so two glasses of really, really nice Bordeaux in me and my perspective has changed.  I feel accomplished.  First, mother nature is in control if you aren’t quick and if you don’t know what you are doing.  Wow, at the end of the day we had serious wind, white caps on the lake and we were heeling like @G650 in his race boat as were all the other sailboats out there (there were 4 of us right outside Lakeway marina).  Trying to keep the boat pointed into the wind while the instructor was lowering the sail was quite harrowing at times, especially with how significant the wind was at the end.  The sails luffing to an extreme and it was just stressful. 

 

US Sailing certification, fuck around and find out.  had my boys read some articles last night for vocab and we were off to the docks this morning.  island music going, good hearty breakfast.  spirits were high!

 

 

 

this was the easy vocab, he went to 100mph in no time on language, kids were lost, but we figured it out.

 

 

there was an even smaller boat so when they saw this one they were excited and relieved.  22 feet.  enough, really, we didn't want more today. ha.

 

 

 

Docking wasn’t that hard but with the lake low the route is quite circuitous, narrow most of the way, a complete uturn, swings to watch out for with the shrouds, just an obstacle course and probably less than 20 feet of space to manuver port to starboard (including the beam) for the whole boat as you came in to the approach to dock.  Didn’t help the motor was a little tiny 5 hp motor, super old school, had to handle that the whole way through the docking exercise (until the end when you went to neutral).  you can see how narrow it is there in the pic.

 

 

 

 

 

We did great, lots of tacking, tracking the wind, reading the gauge and just getting used to it.  the controls are fully manual so that was fun, no auto-tacking.  We did a little jibing and talked a lot of vocab.

 

Last round for the day, we took the boat from dock, out, sailed for 90 minutes, tacked back and forth, mostly beam reach to go left and right across the narrow lake, heeled that fucker like a champ, and we hauled some ass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, looking back on it, we fucking sailed by the end of the first day.

(instructor was horribad to be honest, and that was all I wanted to talk about before two glasses of wine)

 

Troph, I just hope the joy of sailing is the main thing you take away. There are dicks everywhere, don't let one ruin anything for you. If you are ever in my neck of the woods I'll teach you to sail for free.

 

2 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

As I’ve told my son a million times- slow and steady wins the race.  Keep just enough pace coming in to the slip as is necessary to maintain control.

 

2 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

Yep. I’ve seen people (usually guides with thousands of annual hours) slide right into a dock at speed like parking a car, and it looks so damn smooth. But for someone who doesn’t literally live and work on the water, slowing down a bit is the key. Slamming into the dock seems like it would suck and be embarrassing, so slow and steady wins. 

 

No more pace than necessary is certainly the rule, but in wind and current that can be quite fast. You need to be comfortable with the physics of the whole deal. The upside is cruising sailboats are pretty much the easiest thing to dock.

[fattyflattie 4636]

52 minutes ago, G650 said:

The upside is cruising sailboats are pretty much the easiest thing to dock.

Can you expand on this?   I have no qualms about docking a 35’ triple engine CC, but would be scared shitless to dock a hobie cat. I assume you are speaking in regards to sail boats? 

[G650 14106]

4 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

Can you expand on this?   I have no qualms about docking a 35’ triple engine CC, but would be scared shitless to dock a hobie cat. I assume you are speaking in regards to sail boats? 

Yeah, cruising monohulls. You have a huge fat keel, and rudder, which eliminates most side slip, which is probably the hardest thing for people to master. It's much more predictable.

 

Race boats are a bit diffrerent as the foils are super thin, so you need to be moving pretty quick to make them work.

[Cajun 11675]

There are so many variables that most of the time I only take into account after making an idiot out of myself.  I launch alone a lot out on the lake, so when I do around a dock, I will put in and then head straight that sucker, jump out with tie ropes in hand, and then spin each one around the dock cleats.  There's a rythm to it and I've got it down pretty well.  With that Nautique, even in the wind, I had little problem.  First time I tried it w/the MC out on Canyon it was fairly windy and I moved too slowly on the dock, it seems.  I didn't have the ropes gripped very tight, turned my back to make sure that everything was still cool over at the ramp where the truck and trailer still sat, and next thing I know those ropes rifled through my palms into the water as the wind had that boat trucking out toward the middle of the cove.

I ended up having to dive in and swim it down before it beached on the rocks on the other side.  Thank God it was very early and no one was around to point and laugh.

When repeated the process, with a LOT more urgency to get it tied off, I took a breather and thought to myself, "WTF?  I've done this a shitload of times with that Nautique and never had that happen.  Same size boats and the MC's actually heavier, so how that's happen?"  Then, I gazed up and it hit me like that scene in Fandango when Truman tolp Phillip that if he'd take the plane up and jump first "...just to show you how it's done".  "Oh, what a Space Cadet I am! If I do that who's gonna land the plane?"

The Bimini top on the MC is at least double the size of the top I had on that Nautique.  What an amazing difference that makes.

Space Cadet indeed.

[G650 14106]

20 minutes ago, Cajun said:

There are so many variables that most of the time I only take into account after making an idiot out of myself.  I launch alone a lot out on the lake, so when I do around a dock, I will put in and then head straight that sucker, jump out with tie ropes in hand, and then spin each one around the dock cleats.  There's a rythm to it and I've got it down pretty well.  With that Nautique, even in the wind, I had little problem.  First time I tried it w/the MC out on Canyon it was fairly windy and I moved too slowly on the dock, it seems.  I didn't have the ropes gripped very tight, turned my back to make sure that everything was still cool over at the ramp where the truck and trailer still sat, and next thing I know those ropes rifled through my palms into the water as the wind had that boat trucking out toward the middle of the cove.

I ended up having to dive in and swim it down before it beached on the rocks on the other side.  Thank God it was very early and no one was around to point and laugh.

When repeated the process, with a LOT more urgency to get it tied off, I took a breather and thought to myself, "WTF?  I've done this a shitload of times with that Nautique and never had that happen.  Same size boats and the MC's actually heavier, so how that's happen?"  Then, I gazed up and it hit me like that scene in Fandango when Truman tolp Phillip that if he'd take the plane up and jump first "...just to show you how it's done".  "Oh, what a Space Cadet I am! If I do that who's gonna land the plane?"

The Bimini top on the MC is at least double the size of the top I had on that Nautique.  What an amazing difference that makes.

Space Cadet indeed.

Windage ftw.

[troph 24562]

@G650 sailing is bad ass. Great day today.  Easy winds so we got to really sail without anxiety. Was able to plan tacks and jibes for actually going somewhere.  So amazing. Instructor calmed down I’ll tell ya later.  I’m definitely a half-ass sailor after today, going for full ass cert. knots today. I can throw a mother fucking bowlin like a champ. Three sheet bender too.  What I know is I love boats and knowing how to sail is critical to my personal self actualization. Off to margaritaville right now bbl to talk more.  

[G650 14106]

15 minutes ago, troph said:

@G650 sailing is bad ass. Great day today.  Easy winds so we got to really sail without anxiety. Was able to plan tacks and jibes for actually going somewhere.  So amazing. Instructor calmed down I’ll tell ya later.  I’m definitely a half-ass sailor after today, going for full ass cert. knots today. I can throw a mother fucking bowlin like a champ. Three sheet bender too.  What I know is I love boats and knowing how to sail is critical to my personal self actualization. Off to margaritaville right now bbl to talk more.  

Rad.

 

The bowline is the single most important knot any human being can ever learn. I tie damn near everything with it. It releases by hand no matter how much load it's been under. And it maintains 75% of the lines breaking strength.

 

I'm not gonna say a sheet bend is worthless, but, I uh don't tue many sheet bends. Learn hitches, half and clove, and how to lash properly and you are sorted on knots.

 

Glad it was a good day!

[TwiceHorn 31275]

11 minutes ago, G650 said:

Rad.

 

The bowline is the single most important knot any human being can ever learn. I tie damn near everything with it. It releases by hand no matter how much load it's been under. And it maintains 75% of the lines breaking strength.

 

I'm not gonna say a sheet bend is worthless, but, I uh don't tue many sheet bends. Learn hitches, half and clove, and how to lash properly and you are sorted on knots.

 

Glad it was a good day!

Can you tie a bowline around your waist one handed? /eagle scout

Actually, that isn't eagle scout knowledge.  My Dad taught me that.  He learned it in the Navy, I guess while being enlisted before his college sent him his degree.  I don't think they taught many knots in OCS/V12.

Edited February 28, 2021 by TwiceHorn

[troph 24562]

1 hour ago, G650 said:

Rad.

 

The bowline is the single most important knot any human being can ever learn. I tie damn near everything with it. It releases by hand no matter how much load it's been under. And it maintains 75% of the lines breaking strength.

 

I'm not gonna say a sheet bend is worthless, but, I uh don't tue many sheet bends. Learn hitches, half and clove, and how to lash properly and you are sorted on knots.

 

Glad it was a good day!

Clove with and without a hitch, end knot, square, sheet bend with a hitch on each side, turn and two hitch (?), bowline on a rail and around my waist, man over board technique, storing lines, all of those yeah. 

[G650 14106]

8 minutes ago, troph said:

Clove with and without a hitch, end knot, square, sheet bend with a hitch on each side, turn and two hitch (?), bowline on a rail and around my waist, man over board technique, storing lines, all of those yeah. 

Turn and two half hitches is the go to for tying up if no cleats available

[troph 24562]

4 minutes ago, G650 said:

Turn and two half hitches is the go to for tying up if no cleats available

That’s it. Turn and two half hitches.  Good times.  Definitely going to be my thing. Not exclusive but it will certainly stick.  Shit I want to go out tomorrow. It reminds me of fly fishing. It unlocks something in me, the system of it, the philosophy of it. 

[Landomatic 3813]

On 2/26/2021 at 6:47 PM, Cajun said:

Anybody got any rubbing compound?

Turns out this was the founder of Capri Sun's (yes the fruit drink) yacht.  Apparently the auto-pilot locked up and it actually happened twice in a few minutes.  Computer couldn't find park I guess.  Here's the full story...

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/celebrity-cars/yacht-crash-capri-sun/

Couple more angles...

 

 

 

[conVINCEd 21468]

Sounds like the story I would come up with if I was hammered and crashed my yacht into the dock at the yacht club.   Fucking autopilot locked up, can you believe that shit?

[PorscheGuy 127]

Wife:  Can I park the boat?

Capri sun billionaire: Sure, it has autopilot, no way it can get fucked up.

"crash 1" "crash 2"

Wife: I'll go get the caviar...

 

 

[justhookit 4180]

I know y’all are getting it from the article but Auto pilot has fuck-all to do with the crash. Not that AP would be engaged in or near the marina, but if it malfunctioned all you would have to do is take the boat out of gear. Now, the joystick thing we have talked about, that does interact/control the engines when you use skyhook.

Anyway, computer system fuckup or just the electronic throttle link failed. Sometimes it’s nice to have mechanical controls.

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19331]

32 minutes ago, PorscheGuy said:

Wife:  Can I park the boat?

Capri sun billionaire: Sure, it has autopilot, no way it can get fucked up.

"crash 1" "crash 2"

Wife: I'll go get the caviar...

 

 

Capri Sun Billionaire: I should have brought the side piece. 

[Viking 299]

On 2/28/2021 at 10:57 AM, troph said:

Let me put it this way, first time docking he told my nervous teenager - you cannot damage this boat.

That's a shitty instructor. Hopefully that experience doesn't ruin it for your wife or kids. I've had 5 sailing instructors over the years and they've all been fantastic. Three were ASA instructors. My docking training on a 48 ft cat was the complete opposite of yours. The instructor let me have the helm and said not to worry he'd jump in if I did anything really stupid (ie expensive).

[troph 24562]

6 hours ago, Viking said:

That's a shitty instructor. Hopefully that experience doesn't ruin it for your wife or kids. I've had 5 sailing instructors over the years and they've all been fantastic. Three were ASA instructors. My docking training on a 48 ft cat was the complete opposite of yours. The instructor let me have the helm and said not to worry he'd jump in if I did anything really stupid (ie expensive).

He was horrible. My son docked and got us out just fine. I did it like 5 times.  It’s not a problem. I basically taught my boys how to do all of it. My girlfriend and one son bailed on day two but they weren’t in cert classes anyway.  He didn’t ruin it for us, but it was clear we had to make it though it to get what we want.  Everyone in this house loves the water so we are safe there.  I’ll most certainly look for a different instructor for cruising and another for cat sailing.  

[troph 24562]

We were doing man overboard motoring techniques around a buoy.  My son asked him why we need to know this - at that juncture all we knew was we were supposed to do a circle around the buoy at the exact same angle. No why told yet. My son asked why do we need to know this. The instructor rolled his eyes and nearly threw his hands up. I said hang on a minute man, I don’t know why we are doing this either, it’s a fair question. He then said it’s a man overboard drill and then we said ah ok, and we did it.  
 

just no good at all. 

[Brew 3046]

On 2/28/2021 at 2:11 PM, Cajun said:

There are so many variables that most of the time I only take into account after making an idiot out of myself.  I launch alone a lot out on the lake, so when I do around a dock, I will put in and then head straight that sucker, jump out with tie ropes in hand, and then spin each one around the dock cleats.  There's a rythm to it and I've got it down pretty well.  With that Nautique, even in the wind, I had little problem.  First time I tried it w/the MC out on Canyon it was fairly windy and I moved too slowly on the dock, it seems.  I didn't have the ropes gripped very tight, turned my back to make sure that everything was still cool over at the ramp where the truck and trailer still sat, and next thing I know those ropes rifled through my palms into the water as the wind had that boat trucking out toward the middle of the cove.

I ended up having to dive in and swim it down before it beached on the rocks on the other side.  Thank God it was very early and no one was around to point and laugh.

When repeated the process, with a LOT more urgency to get it tied off, I took a breather and thought to myself, "WTF?  I've done this a shitload of times with that Nautique and never had that happen.  Same size boats and the MC's actually heavier, so how that's happen?"  Then, I gazed up and it hit me like that scene in Fandango when Truman tolp Phillip that if he'd take the plane up and jump first "...just to show you how it's done".  "Oh, what a Space Cadet I am! If I do that who's gonna land the plane?"

The Bimini top on the MC is at least double the size of the top I had on that Nautique.  What an amazing difference that makes.

Space Cadet indeed.

I got in the habit of folding mine out after we left the dock and then back up as we came into the dock after chasing mine down one day. 

[Cajun 11675]

^^Looks like I've got some YouTube tutorials to watch.

Just kidding, I know how to break it down.  It just seems that everytime I do I pinch everlivin' mutherfuck outta my finger in the process and I've got beaten dog syndrome over it.

[Brew 3046]

22 minutes ago, Cajun said:

^^Looks like I've got some YouTube tutorials to watch.

Just kidding, I know how to break it down.  It just seems that everytime I do I pinch everlivin' mutherfuck outta my finger in the process and I've got beaten dog syndrome over it.

Older ones seem much simpler. They worked like a pontoon top where you popped the front supports out and then it just folded together. I used the Velcro’s straps off wakeboard ropes to wrap around it to hold the fabric tight. I’ve always towed from my shop to the lake which is about 30-40 miles, so I’ve always put it up each trip. 

[Cajun 11675]

Yeah, this MC has some metal "sleeve" type things that you have to slide and then unhook somethin' or other and every time I've done it the thing starts to fold and catches my finger(s).

I'm sure I'm doing it wrong.

[troph 24562]

NOAA is going exclusively digital by 2025... no more paper charts. thoughts?

[G650 14106]

1 hour ago, troph said:

NOAA is going exclusively digital by 2025... no more paper charts. thoughts?

This has been in the works for a very long time. It's essentially impossible to get a paper chart even today, they used to be bought at any chandlery. The only time we carry them is if it's in the race requirements.

 

In the size boats you are looking at, you will have a dedicated chartplotter, and there are several good backups fro mhandheld GPS to your phone loaded with Navionics (which is pretty much the main go to these days)

[Landomatic 3813]

5 hours ago, troph said:

NOAA is going exclusively digital by 2025... no more paper charts. thoughts?

As someone whose entire livelihood depends on the demise of print, this pleases me.  Another print medium bites the dust.

ETA:  But even I have to admit there is something nostalgically cool about a paper chart.  Like the couple old magazines we have on our coffee table in our living room, I may try to find a cool old chart for a decoration for my boat (snarkiness intended).

Edited March 2, 2021 by Landomatic