Start To Finish: Motorboating

Getting started

I was first drawn to powerboating as a child through a passion for fishing. Rather than wait for the fish to come my way, I soon learned that it was far more profitable to chase after them. I rigged up a small outboard on the back of the family dinghy and spent endless hours trawling for mackerel or sitting anchored off the beach with worm-baited lines pulling up Dover sole.

From there it was a short enthusiastic jump first to waterskiing, then fast cruising from port to port. It is an adventurous, exciting, and fun sport that can appeal to all the family.

A fast seaworthy power cruiser can carry you a long way in a day: across the English Channel to taste the delights of French cuisine, run across the Gulf Stream from Miami or Fort Lauderdale to spend the day on a deserted beach in the Bahamas, or simply to get out to where the fish are running.

The latest electronic nav aids take the guess and stress out of navigation, and the ability to cruise at 20knots + becomes a major safety factor, giving you the ability to outrun bad weather.

Nowadays, many people discover the delights of getting afloat later in life, bypass the small fishing dinghy inauguration altogether and are introduced through friends or experiences on holiday, straight to high powered sports fishing or power cruisers.

That’s fine, but buying a powerboat is often one of the biggest expenditures many of us will make, so it is prudent to know what you are doing before going afloat, or at least to have an experienced hand onboard to show you the ropes. Better still, enrol on an introductory sailing course like those organized by the UKSA to learn not just the rudiments of getting a boat to go where you want it to, but how to dock, communicate and navigate safely. These are all essential skills, and your choice of boat will be all the more informed once you are competent – and confident – enough, to take her out for the day or weekend.

This powerboat manual takes you through a step-by-step guide based on the UKSA’s teaching programme and is designed to provide readers with a thorough grounding to enable you to manoeuvre, plan and make a passage safely.

Powerboating is a great recreation, not just for moving from A to B but opening opportunities to scuba diving, fishing, waterskiing and socialising. Whether your choice is an Orkney sports fishing boat, a Ribtec rigid bottom inflatable (RIB) or a power cruiser like the Tony Castro-designed Galleon 44 flybridge cruiser all featured in this book, everyone has the opportunity to enjoy being afloat.