Water courtesy

I was on one of the other forums recently and was reading a post about Wally's and Wankers.... inconsiderate weekend warriors and boat owners.    Since my family has never owned boats, I wonder where do I get an education on being a courteous boater, "common sense" boating safety?   Where did you guys learn about driving, towing skiers/boarders, getting the boat on the trailer quickly, etc? I am guessing a lot of the common sense stuff comes from exposure to the sport, I just don't want my exposure to be at the expense of others at the boat ramp, or ruining someones weekend with a careless move?

Good question. Tough Answer.

And kind of a pet peeve of mine that most states require young boaters (like 11-17 +/-) to take a course, but by some magic, if you are older than that, they assume you know everything about boating. Finally, some states are changing that, like NC I believe.

Anyway, some things are taught, most are not.

I recommend a CG or local power squadron course to learn the basic safety stuff and rules. Very important...equipment, safety, rights-of-way...lots of things.

Now the courtesy thing, much harder, no books or courses as far as I know.

Ramp etiquette.
Learn how to back up on a quiet street or parking lot first, not at the ramp.

Load your boat, check everything out at the ramp parking lot before backing down the ramp so that you dont clog up the ramp getting ready.

When pulling out, pull up to the parking lot, dont clog up the ramp getting all the damp towels, toys, cooler....out of the boat. Wait to get up to the lot to deal with your tie down straps.

If its a two or more lane ramp, pick a lane, dont take up more than one lane.

On the water:

Driver watches where you are going, driver does not watch the skier.
Dont cut any one off.
Fishermen can be a pain, but be courteous. Try to avoid them, don't swamp them.
Travel in relatively predictable paths (especially when tubing in busier waters, better yet, dont tube.
Dont cut too close to other boats, watch for ropes out and skiers in the water.
Don't drink and boat.
There are a million others, but those are what come to mind right now.

I would suggest heading out to the lake with friends who are experienced (and hopefully responsible, but there are no guarantees to that) boaters. Watch, ask questions, listen to what they do. Pay more attention than you would as a regular passenger to get a sense of good behavior on the water. This is particularly worthwhile advice with respect to ramp use.

And like you said above, a lot of it is common sense.

You have a Red light and a Green light on the front of your boat.
Those actually mean something, even during the day when they are shut off.
There are 12 people on my lake that actually know what they mean.
The other 150,000 have no clue.

Your state license bureau or DMV should have pamphlets on rules and regulations, plus pictures!   To help you identify channel markers, dive flags and safety equipment.....etc...


AT

Take a boater's safety course if you can. When I took it in the mid 80s it was offered by the local Sheriffs department. There is a lot of good information like who has the right of way, what the red and green lights mean, bouy and flag meanings, safety equipment, etc. Most of it is common sense and common courtesy. Some people just get stupid when you add water.

David

Start with your states boating safety hand book. Lots of good basic info.

at the minimum, read the book

behindpropeller wrote: When your skier falls....stop then idle back. Drive the boat, don't watch the skier. Tim

Additionally, when circling your fallen skier for another go always pass them on the drivers side (starboard), this way you have a very clear view of your skier as you idle around them.

Basic Skiers signals: Thumbs up = faster, thumbs down = slower

If your boat is equipped with a lanyard (kill switch), use it!

There are actually a few good videos out there.. I used to help the local sherriff instruct the water safety course in NY and it covered the basic right of way info but we also had some watersports pulling tips on video. Unfortunately that was VHS days and I have long since dumped the tapes.. IIRC the wakeboarding DVD series "The Book" had a boring but useful if you dont know it primer in the first dvd about how to drive and manage your wake.   

Dreaming,
"Hacked off",,,,,, only if you have found the sound advise here on this forum and never use it !!!!! We all have started from somewhere too. Courtesy should have been taught by your mom and dad. Out on the water it's X2 with a whole lot of common sense...

Again, take what everyone is saying to the bank. Literally thousands of combined boat hours are talking to you now. Hope it is helpful and something you take to the ramp and sandbar with...

Moj'

Kris,

If you haven't been here yet, here is a good place to start.

Washington boating regs

Glad to see yours is a state that is requiring ALL boaters to get a license, although it is being phased in over the next few years.

I didnt look at it in detail, but like I said, the rules are a pretty good place to start. Our MA rule book has a good section on courtesy as well, going beyond just the rules. Even had a section on ramp ettiquete, as discussed above.

MI-nick wrote: don't blast your stereo...

um whoops!

Unless it is country music... No back that thing up at the lake..

There are some idiots that do not know how to back trailers up, I think I agree. I got my training from being a truck driver. I can be backed up, unloaded, and gone in 3-4 minutes.. By myself

boy, wealth of knowledge here :)   I'll check the WA boat regs, that does sound like a good place to start.... since I am going to be dry again this summer, I figured I could at least start reading the stuff I should know and then put the practical together once I actually have a boat :) I spoke with "my" dealer this weekend, and was shocked to have him spend 1/2 an hour with me talking about project boats, and what he deems to be good starters verses piles of junk.... Sounds like he has a lead on a 92 that hit a stump last year, and he said that he hears about boats with cracked blocks from time to time too.... I guess I'll continue to dream for a while but the reallity may come sooner than I anticipated.   Thanks for all the suggestions, looks like I have some work to do!

someone tell that first guy that he has to BACK the boat off the trailer!

Then here's those guys that park their boat on the launch side of the pier, and wait until their driver comes back from parking the truck, blocking those from launching that are ready. Even worse is when they park their boat there and expect that since their boat is at the launch they are next.

Last I checked, you can't get a boat out of the water, without having a trailer at the launch first.