“It’s not what you don’t know that kills you; it’s what you know for sure that just ain’t true.”
– Mark Twain
Here they are! The Top 5 Worst Pieces of Boating Advice we’ve found online. There is some crappy information out there and these are 5 of our favorites. We’ll start with the not-so-bad and end with the worst. By the way, the folks at FloatWays didn’t advise these (we actually know what we are doing!) If you feel like crashing, sinking or losing your boat – or losing a bunch of money even if you get to keep the boat, then take the advice.
- Use a spotlight when sailing or boating at night. – This one’s a simple one that most wouldn’t know they shouldn’t do (just to start warming up our list). There is a common misconception with spotlights. Their lighting strength causes strong glare and reflections that blind people around it including the skipper if used improperly or just plain too much. While using a spotlight to quickly find markers and reefs or to light up your anchor rode in the presence of an oncoming vessel is fine, you should not use a spotlight as continuous aim-able light like you would with your car headlights. Shining a strong spotlight onto an object while sailing can actually make it worse for your night vision and blind you from being able to see other unlit objects you would’ve been able to see without the light in the first place. If you can’t navigate at night without a spotlight constantly on, you shouldn’t be out boating in the first place. Ambient light should be enough for regular sailing.
- For long distance cruising, buy the biggest boat you can. – This is bad advice for a number of reasons. It doesn’t take into account that the person buying the boat might not have a tight grasp on what affordability actually is. Let’s say the person considers that having $250,000 in cash and spending $240,000 on the boat defines being able to afford it. Unless an additional big chunk of change is on it’s way, keeping only $10,000 in cash leftover is simply not enough. You will need a whole lot more than that left over if you plan on cruising for a considerable amount of time. In which case, buying the biggest boat you can get with your money is simply incomplete advice, and therefore, bad-advice. You should buy the best boat you can get while still keeping way more than just 5% of the cost of the boat. That is if you are actually planning on cruising. If you’re getting yourself into debt and prefer to work more than you plan on using the boat, than by all means do whatever the heck you want. Buying a huge boat only to end up working 6 days a week to pay for it and use it on the occasional Sunday does not seem like a very good idea.
- Don’t sell your stock to buy a boat (a couple of years ago). – As you probably all know by now, the economy when to crap. If you were considering selling your stock to buy a boat a few years ago and didn’t because someone with their heads up their rear ends told you not to do it… You’ve probably figured out by now that THAT was bad advice. Now you are cashless, stockless and boatless.
- Tie your boat nice and tight to the dock so it doesn’t move about. – This has happened to just about every boat beginner out there. I’m sure it has happened to some of you and you are not willing to accept it. It’s advice that’s usually given to beginners by clueless people trying to use common sense, but arriving at a conclusion that’s completely opposite from what should actually be done. You then go, follow the dumb advice and tighten up your docking lines snugly to your fixed dock. Then the tide goes down, your boat hangs and you realize the cleats are not strong enough to hold the weight of the boat… and out they come bringing huge chunks of shattered fiberglass along with them!
- Leave the boat tied up to the dock at the marina during the hurricane, it’ll be fine! – Next thing you know, you come back the next day AFTER the hurricane and there is no more marina. All the boat owners that followed the brilliant advice arrive at the marina to see every single boat that got left behind is now underwater – including their own!
…lest you end up divorced and your ex-wife who was fat when she was with you but now skinny keeps the boat!
Disclaimer: This column is meant to shed some light on coming pieces of bad advice boaters and sailors often get. However, none of this is written in stone. If you decide to take your boat out of the marina before a hurricane and it’s YOUR boat that sinks instead, don’t come crying here. If you decided to turn off the spotlight to sail on ambient light and you ram into a reef… Again, don’t come here crying. You probably should’ve not been out there in the first place. In other words, don’t take any of the above as legal advice (or any type of marital advice for that matter – lest you end up divorced and your ex-wife who was fat when she was with you but now skinny keeps the boat)!
If you liked our list of worst pieces of boating advice please link to this page or share on Facebook and Twitter. Later, FW.