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Newbe - What's a good size to start with
In article ,
(Gould 0738) wrote:
How is blindly telling a would be boater to get a larger boat,
I wouldn't begin to know.
What I said was:
Get a boat that suits your needs and, at the very beginning, learn to
operate
it properly. That may even involve hiring somebody to teach you, one on
one.
Several of the folks screeching that you *must* start small and work up have
cited "safety" as an issue.
While I don't feel anyone *must* start off in a small boat, I can by no
means consider it "bad advice" for most first time boaters to start off
with a smaller vessel for reasons of safety and practically. And yes
saftey is an issue if your in a boat you can't operate.
Maybe it's different in my state, but boating deaths go up exponentially the
further one gets down below 20 feet LOA.
This a vague correlation, offering no other details like location,
conditions, activity or the captain's experience.
It is my understanding that most boating fatalities take place under calm
conditions, and DO NOT involve recreational boaters, but hunters and
fishermen on small boats that I would not constitute as a recreational
boat. These statistics better illustrate the misuse of and stupidity on a
boat like standing up in a 9 foot john boat, overloading, and not wearing
a PFD. Those fatalities might be skewing the statistics in favor of the
"bigger is better" argument. Factor out the hunters and fisherman and the
calm conditions, and the remaining statistics would hold more relevance.
All things being equal, your point is taken that you will be safer on a
larger boat, AND if a new boater is hell bent on taking seven people out
on the water, then for the love of god they should get a boat larger than
16 feet.
But that is a far cry from being able to recommend to everyone that
getting a larger boat is good idea for a first time boat owner.
I'm personally aware of scores of first-time boaters who had very successful
experiences with boats as large as a 63-foot Hatteras. In every case, the
people got some extensive one-on-one training.
Hiring someone to hold your hand until you can operate your own vessel is
great. But would you argue that every new boater would exercise this
much common sense? In most cases, the best we can hope for is a dealer
taking the new owner out to get familar with the helm, and that is a far
cry from being able to safeley operate the boat under adverse conditions.
We can agree that it is complete idiocy to be out and about on a boat you are
not prepared to handle. We apparently disagree that it is possible for that
*first* boat to something other than a tiny little runabout.
We don't necessarily disagree on your second point, as I've never said one
can not or should not start out with a larger vessel. You have valid
points supporting the decision to opt for the larger vessel. The
exception I took, is in the failing to point out the potential pitfalls
in starting out with a larger, or "too large" a boat for the the would be
boater.
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