If I asked you about your boating proficiency, how would you describe it?
Beginner? Intermediate? Advanced? Expert?
When I started swimming lessons as a young boy, they placed me in a class called “Rocks,” for the kids who didn’t know how to float. I was a Second Class Boy Scout, when my hiking boots melted near a campfire. My last academic degree meant I could wear three stripes on my graduation gown. I retired from taekwondo with a hard-earned blue stripe.
In each situation, I knew precisely where I stood because there was an examination I had to pass to demonstrate my proficiency. And each test made clear two things: First, that I really had achieved something and, second, that there was still more to learn.
But boaters? Why aren’t there any standardized guidelines to help boaters assess their levels of competence? You know, a proficiency scale we could use to assess our boating knowledge and the boating skills we’ve learned, practiced, and mastered.
When I asked a few Midcoast boaters to describe their boating proficiency recently, I got some interesting replies:
“I am not a beginner but far from an expert.”
“I think my boating skills are Ok. (But I’m) not really good docking in wind and quick tides.”
One neighbor reports that he’s taken several Coast Guard and Power Squadron courses, follows the rules of navigation, and his boat is fully provisioned with all the required safety equipment in working order.
But, he adds, “… precise boat handling in strong water currents and winds is a skill I continually try to remaster. (And) I haven’t practiced a man overboard drill in years.”
A friend on Mears Cove writes that he’s “sailed and cruised coastal Maine waters from Casco Bay to Mount Desert Island on and off for 50 years in both sail and powered vessels … (but he has) never stopped learning from King Neptune.”
Each of these boaters has decades more experience than I. But each of them is very much aware that there is always something new to learn – and some old skills to practice.
I think we boaters need clear and practical proficiency guidelines for two reasons: To better assess our own boating proficiency, our knowledge of basic boating facts (classroom) and our mastery of safe boat handling and navigation (practice on the water); and to encourage continuing education among boaters at all levels.
A simple proficiency guideline might use the number of hours and seasons a boater has spent on the water as a vessel operator:
· Beginner: 0-100 hours, 0-2 seasons on the water
· Intermediate: 101-300 hours, 3-5 seasons on the water
· Advanced: 301-500 hours, 6-8 seasons on the water
· Expert: 500-plus hours, 9-10-plus seasons on the water
The problem with this model is that I’d be an advanced boater simply because I’ve put over 300 hours on the SUSAN B since 2017. I may know the basics, but there are still many skills I need to learn or practice. (Remember that book about how we need 10,000 hours of practice to become expert in any field? If true, I’d need another 80 years on the water.)
What if we used a boater proficiency scale that reflected a combination of “book knowledge” and on-the-water experience? It might look like this:
· Novice has passed a basic America’s Boating Club boating course; is aware of the boating skills required for competence, but has limited on-the-water experience.
· Intermediate has reviewed basic boating rules and good practices, has had more time on the water under more varied conditions than the novice, but needs more practice with basic boat handling.
· Advanced has solid command of basic boating rules and regulations and can handle safe boating skills with confidence under most conditions.
· Expert is a recognized authority, highly competent, and is able to teach and provide guidance to less experienced boaters.
Of course, the vessel type and the location of the boat will dictate the skill set required of each boater. (Paddling a canoe on a pond requires a different skill set than sailing the Maine coast – or bringing a power boat into a busy harbor.)
There’s a story about a tourist who’s lost in New York trying to find Carnegie Hall for a concert. So he asks a New Yorker how to get to Carnegie Hall. And the New Yorker pauses, then says, “Practice, practice, practice.”
That’s the wisdom I draw from my friends’ responses earlier: Good boaters know that a boating course is just the start. Good boating, safe boating, requires a commitment to life-long learning, which means practice, practice, practice.
There’s still plenty of time this spring before your boat’s in the water to take America’s Boating Course (americasboatingclub.org) online.
“Safe journey and always a handsbreadth of water under your keel!”
(William Anthony is a member of the America’s Boating Club – Mid Coast Maine. He lives part of the year in Edgecomb on the Damariscotta River, whose waters he explores in a wooden boat built in Maine. He is the author of the novel, “Farnsy,” now available at Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop in Damariscotta.)
