The Author's First Boat
My experience with boats is about what could be expected after one season of ownership and a few years of reading magazines, internet sources, and going to boat shows Prior to owning my own boat, on water experience was limited to guesting aboard a house boat here and there as well as a few dive trips to study the formation and history of the reefs off the Florida Keys. Other than that, it was pure visceral boating.
My first inclination of actually owning a boat was when I visited the Annapolis boat show back in 1994. From then on out I realized Chesapeake Bay living meant some involvement with the water and a power boat was my means to get there. Unfortunately, constant fears of affordability coupled with the limits of a single person's salary limited any real consideration of actually joining the Wet Set. Prior to meeting my soon-to-be wife, I resigned myself to walking to the city docks of Annapolis and watching the boats as they came and went.
<flash forward 5 years>
When we met, I was forever pointing out different boats to the S.O. and generally talking about little tid bits of boating knowledge. As she visited Annapolis more and more, she warmed to the idea of actually owning one of these things. Imagine my surprise when she started to actually price compare and talk about model differences, brands, usage, slippage, and the like. Not taking any of this too seriously, I joined in the fun task of dreaming along. The seed was finally set, we were actually making day trips out to marina's to see how much slippage would cost, what type of boat we wanted, asking questions about brands and models, new or used? what features were out there.......
'A boat is a hole in the water you pour money into'
We settled on the idea of a cruiser. The S.O. likes to go fast, but we both wanted creature comforts. The idea of spending weekends in one of the many coves in the Chesapeake or traveling back to the City Docks of Annapolis on our own boat filled our eager minds. Go-fast boats were an option, but their creature comforts were lacking a bit. Some of the open cockpit boats were also an option, but I save most of my fishing for the jetties of Cape May. Like hell I'm going to buy an expensive boat we want to over night on, frequently, and then stink it up with bait. Well, okay. Give me a year or two and maybe.
Once we came to our senses, we worked through all the big questions and decided to put off the purchase until the fall. At that time, probably at the Annapolis Boat Show, we would make the big purchase. I think that falls under one of the biggest lies of all time. Right behind "We are going to keep this boat for 5 years before stepping up to the next size." Then it happened, we stopped by a Sea Ray dealer and got hooked. Once I pulled that out of my shoe, we went in. In a nut shell, they made us a deal we didn't want to refuse. We quickly called on the three other dealers we had planned to visit, looked at their offerings, and made a race to the phone to see if the special deal was still on the lot. This time the hook was in my mind, much harder to remove. We generally found most of these boats were about the same cost, it was the features and layout that really influenced our decisions.
'It is better to be on shore wishing your were at sea than to be at sea wishing you were onshore.'
We ended up getting a Sea Ray 270 SE. Outfitted to the hilt it was comparable in price to many other brands with similar equipment. After the two week cooling off period (which didn't work) we went down to sign the papers and pick her up. The morning we drove down was foggy. To the point we were afraid we would get to the dealer and have to call it a day before it even started. Fortunately, the fog lifted into an eerie patchwork of scattered banks just as we arrived. Now, since we have never been in command of our own vessel, we were offered a coast guard cert. captain who would help us ferry the boat to our marina which we estimated was a full 3-4 hours away. This feature was a big selling point for this dealer.
Our captain was as salty and as gruff as they came. I don't think anyone could question his competence and skill. However, it was readily apparent before we left that he was here to teach us to operate this vessel, not make small talk. We signed our children's lives away and went to get under way. As soon as we have kids and they are old enough to understand, we'll let them in on the fact they are mortgaged to a bank and we are only renting them. That should make for a few therapist visits in their futures. Once at the boat, we got our familiarization and we went to the heads before casting off. At that time I had to corner the S.O. to keep her from leaping in the car and driving back to the marina.
Underway, Capt. Jim stood back and let us take control all the way up the Chesapeake. Lisa took first control. I figured that might keep her from leaping off and swimming back to shore (while it was still insight). The first thing we noticed was you can't steer these things straight while creeping along. The boats has a tendency to bow steer and it looks like you are drunk at the helm from an outsider's views...weaving across the water. To this day that is difficult to correct for this. Lisa took us under the overpass and started out the channel. Just in time to get passed by a very big cruiser on plane. Our first wake...oh joy! Once we composed ourselves, out we went beyond the no-wake makers to the mouth of the Chester River and northward. Once in deep water I took over and it was time to get on plane. Our boat has a Bravo 3 drive with a 7.4 liter engine. As I sat there, Capt. Jim instructed me to push the throttle forward until the bow dropped down. Was that exhilarating! As I cautiously inched the throttle forward the engine roared to life, further, further, I slowly pushed the Quick Silver control not wanting to make any sudden movements. The wind increased, the boat went faster, got louder, and I still kept pushing and pushing. It seemed like an hour before I saw the bow drop. We were out of the hole, on plane, on our way, and not a cloud in the sky!! If the speedometer is worth anything we were cruising at 30 knots. Don't know if I believe it though.
The trip up was uneventful enough. We got to learn some of the finer points or wake management, crab pot slaloming, landmark identification, and watching out for collision situations as people came in and out of the channel. The stress was there. Unfamiliar with boat handling each list felt like a complete knock over; stern wakes made us feel like the boat would slide off into the nearest nav buoy, all the fun stuff we did not expect. Perhaps the worst occurrence was when Lisa decided to swerve to avoid a crab pot. As she started her maneuver a loud "Don't do it!" boomed from behind her. "Turn and look!" Right there in our seven o'clock position was a 40+ Sea Ray beating feet to pass us. Never heard it all. After that Cpt. Jim got right in Lisa's face and reminded her never to alter course without looking first. As I said, he was not here to play paddy-cake and he did make his points.
Once we found our river we thought we were home free. Until the nav buoys were hard to spot and one was out of place. Not too bad, except this was one of the lowest tides the marina owner ever saw! Watching the depth finder 6-5-4-4-4-3-3-2-1- Whoops! Not that way. We ended up creeping up along shore in what we later found was the correct channel to our marina. Once there we found our slip then....stop. Next to no water. Engine up. Bill the owner came up to meet us and pulled us in with a line we threw to him. Finally in, dock lines tied, sun burnt, sweaty, wiped out, with two one hour drives yet to come. We finally had our first boat and it was now parked at our slip!
'The only thing better than owning a boat is having a friend or family member who owns one'