Don't Panic!

For unseasoned captains, there can be some normal situations that can be very stressful.  It is usually these moments such as docking that can push a new captain to his limits.  It is very important to stay calm in these situations, if panic arises, there is sure to be an accident, with accidents comes damages or injuries, no body wants that to happen.

One of the things that can cause one to panic is the thought of not knowing how a boat is going to handle in differing conditions.  I encourage new boat owners to take their boat out as many times as possible in varying conditions to see how they will act, but remember, never go out in a situation that you feel could be dangerous to you, your passengers, or your property.

I have seen many cases where a new captain will be approaching a dock cool as a cucumber, then at the last minute, everything falls apart.  For example, if you are moving toward a dock, instinct is to either reverse with full power or to put your hand (or foot) out to stop the boat.  Neither one of these is the right thing to do.  I will explain my personal rules about hands and feet on a boat later, but now I will speak about trying to back up, or at least trying to.

For a while, one of my favorite phrases was, "why be scared of driving a boat, you can literally back out of any situation you find yourself in", well, after more research, not exactly.  When you panic and put everything into full astern (the fancy word for reverse), things can only get worse.  The moment you start doing this, the last thing you are thinking about is what is behind you, in most cases, if you are in tight quarters, you are going to back into something.  What most don't realize is that prop walk is going to be present, physics doesn't know you are in a panic, with this in mind, you will then whip over to one side.

Through all of this rambling of an example, the end point is to keep calm in sticky situations.  If you start to panic, then it will show to your passengers that you have a lack of ability to control your boat, which in reality, if you have a boat, you CAN control it, it just takes some practice.

Just keep calm and sail on (or drift, or motor, the choice is yours!).

Source: www.isfym.com