A Time for Going Slow

That was an excellent article by Charles Plueddeman on the new Mercury V-10 outboard (“The Power of 10,” February). I have just one small suggestion to add to his comments about using the motors. The story states that those who want to slow troll with this outboard on the transom have to consider that trolling speeds could be below the threshold of the 48-volt alternator that’s controlled by the Navico Fathom e-power system. I have a simple solution, provided there are at least two of these motors on the boat. Just troll with a low-rpm motor engaged, and idle up ( in neutral) to above the 48-volt threshold with the other motor. I hope this might help those like me who do a lot of slow trolling. – Vince Zaleckas, Montgomery, New Jersey

MORE LESSONS

We really enjoy Jeanne Craig’s column (Underway) and wanted to respond to her request for readers to send stories about important lessons they’ve learned about boating.

Many years ago, in the days before GPS, a friend and I were traveling south on the ICW in January. We were passing through the “Rock Pile” in South Carolina early one morning when we encountered another vessel coming north. He got too close to the side of the channel and we watched him pop up a full foot out of the water, indicating a hard grounding.

We hailed the boat and as it turns out it was the Coast Guard Auxiliary. The three older men were in some distress so we approached carefully and they threw us a heaving line. Unfortunately, they had forgotten to attach the bitter end to another line, so we ended up with just the heaving line, much to their embarrassment. My friend brought us in very close, perpendicular to the shoal, and we were able to pass them a heavy line and return their heaving line. We then pulled them off and brought them to the nearest dock just as the Coast Guard was on its way to tow them.

The lesson we were reminded of during this experience is don’t panic. It can be challenging, but always try to do things in a methodical fashion, particularly in a stressful situation. And never forget to secure the bitter end. Having been on the waterway for 40 years, my wife and I have many of these anecdotes, but rescuing the Coast Guard Auxiliary is one of my favorites. – Gian & Vivian Mangieri, Aboard VIVIAN II

Get the basics right

I agree with so many of the points that Peter Frederiksen makes in the story “Seamanship Starts Here” (February). He’s correct when he says that you have to get the safety basics right before you do anything else on a boat. And it’s important for the skipper to be sure everyone aboard is aware of safe procedures.

Two of my boating friends live by that rule. Each time they go out on their respective boats they run guests through a checklist that includes how to start the engines, work the radio, clean the raw-water filter, find the location of the PFDs and raise the anchor. Both of these boaters wanted to make sure that if something happens to them, others on board can call for help and/or get the boat underway and back to safety on shore.

It was something I also did when there were guests on my boat, even though my wife knew how to start and operate the vessel when she was along. The “macho man” is not what is needed on the water, particularly if something happens to remove him from the helm.

I also enjoyed Mr. Frederiksen’s anecdote about the friend with little boating experience who bought a big new cruiser and slipped on the deck during the shakedown cruise. Bare feet in the sand is nice, but bare feet on a boat is asking for trouble. And if your foot slips and hits a cleat, that’s really big trouble. – C. Henry Depew, Tallahassee, Florida