Joy Smith - Lets Go Cruising!: A Guide to Family Boating

LETS GO CRUISING!

A GUIDE TO FAMILY BOATING

JOY SMITH

JSBooks Publications

L ETS GO CRUISING!

A Guide to Family Boating

Copyright 2016 by Joy Smith

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

While all reasonable care has been taken regarding accuracy of the information contained in this book, the publisher and author take no responsibility in the use of the methods or products described herein.

JSBooks Publications

www.jsbookspublications.weebly.com

Credits:

Can Stock Photo csp8696565 - EPS Vector

Cover art: Raman Bhardwaj

Illustrations: Raman Bhardwaj, Mary Valencia

Editing: Jane Haertel at Crazy Diamond Editing Services

First Edition published July 2016

Nonfiction

Lets Go Cruising!

The Perfect First Mate

Kitchen Afloat

Oh, No, Theyre Engaged!

The Empty Nest Cookbook

Fictio n

Green Fire

Sea Lust (June2018)

Children

Seagulls Dont Eat Worms

www.joysmith.net

A hoy, Captains and First Mates! Welcome to Marinaland, where every day is Saturday, and the clock stops ticking. Whether you are a new boater or an old hand, the water awaits you. Once in vacation mode, it wont matter whether you are cruising down a river, motoring on a lake, or battling the ocean because you will be doing what you want to do. Aboard your boat, you are the boss, the captainwhether or not you have an official captains license. Your time and your life are your own. Toss out a fishing line and catch dinner, cruise to another harbor, or simply hang out in the cockpit reading your favorite novel.

You may have cruised your local waters on a small day craft and found it limiting. Now youre ready for more. For the purposes of this book, well focus on power and sail boats with stay-aboard facilities that will allow you to travel to other harbors and spend the night sleeping under the stars, listening to waves crash against the shore.

If you dont own a boat but dream of owning one, make smart decisions by evaluating your needs and knowing your personal and environmental limitations. As the saying goes, a boat is a hole in the water you pour money into. Ideally, you have chosen (or plan to buy) a boat that wont strain your household budget. Factor in trips to the marine candy store to buy safety gear and other boat paraphernalia, as well as to boat shows to ogle larger boats. Yes, bigger boats, ones with more power, more amenities, because once you and your family have been hooked, youll always long for something more.

Recreational, or pleasure boating (as I prefer to call it), challenges us in many ways. Operating a boat is much more than driving on water. It requires navigational skills as well as operational expertise. While running a marine engine is similar to driving a car, your hills will be waves and your roads will be channels set into waterways. You will learn how to contend with the elementsrain, fog, sun, wind, and the seaand befriend marine weather predictions.

If you own a sailboat, controlling the wind may be your first challenge. From there you may go onto racing. In Marinaland, races among sailboats, as opposed to powerboats, are most common because of the skill required to compete.

Perhaps you love to fish. Your boat can ferry you to the best fishing grounds, where you can snag dinner or compete in a tournament for the biggest catch.

Your entry into boating will not only require you to embrace a new set of criteria and the necessity for learning new skills, but it will also give you the ability to be part of a community of folks who enjoy the same kinds of boating activities you do. On the water, everyone becomes equal as the woes of the work week are replaced by boatspeak: Wheres a good anchorage? How do you fix...? Did you catch any fish?

If it suits you, join the local yacht club, travel in a flotilla with other boaters, or get together at the end of a day for drinks or dinner. Its always five oclock somewhere.

So, what are you waiting for? Read on for the information you need to make the boating experience for you and yours a good one!

H ey there, boat buyer, come aboard and learn the ropesor should I say lines, because any functional rope on a boat is called a line. Oh? You say you have a boat and know most of this stuff, but youre looking to upgrade? If thats the case, reviewing this section will get you in tune with the latest in boat technology and refresh your memory on the details of the buy. Now, if youve just bought a boat or are happy with the one you have, skim over this section and move on to the remainder of the book for lots of great info.

Choose the Right Boat

O wning a sizeable boat means committing to a lifestyle that will permeate everything: your work ethic, your home, and, especially, your relationships. By its very nature, cruising suggests heading out on the water to new destinations, much the same as if you were going on a vacation in your car. For the price of a tank of gas, less if you are a sailor, you can take your family on a mini vacation. On a nice weekend afternoon, you may run into boat traffic, but it will be nothing like the logjam on the highway to reach a beach or popular vacation spot, such as Cape Cod. Once on the water, you can get away with shutting off your cell phone, with a no-signal excuse to your boss. An old friend of mine named his boat Sails Call , which says it all.