hit the gas

[ne7800]

Last summer we were out on a friends boat just cruising arond the bay and havind a good time when there 9 y.o said he wanted to drive. well his idea of fun was going in circles and then going over the wake, well at one point the wake splashed over the bow a little and sprayed the ladies in the bow, they were not impressed lol so we drve across the bay and he starts doing circles agian then decides to go over the wake agian, well i could see the writing on the wall that it was to big and going to splash the girls agian so i say "david gas!!!" it startled him and he pulled it in to nutrel and we nose dived in to the wake and you guessed it got swamped my friend (the boat owner) jumped in to the drivers seat thuned the bildge pump on and hit the gas trying to get all the water to the bildge after two laps around the bay with a stedy stream poring out of the bildge pump we went to the ramp and loaded it on the trailer and pulled the plug water pored out for at least 3-5 mintues.
moral of the story: don't let the kids drive the boat lmao

 

[AZMinyard]

Re: hit the gas

moral of the story: don't let the kids drive the boat lmao

secondary moral to the story - don't go around young boys and water and NOT expect to get wet!!!

 

[ziggy]

Re: hit the gas

moral of the story: don't let the kids drive the boat lmao

that's not that bad a story. how else is the boy gonna learn to operate a boat? ya can only teach so many things. the rest, ya need to let them experience. had me a similar experience with my boy. he was 9 or 10 at the time. let him operate my 95 sts kawaskai jetski (with me onboard). i told him not to head directly into the surf. he didn't listen and stuffed it good into an oncoming wave. same way too. chopped the throttle so it dove deeper in. i'll never forget his eyes after that incident. they were big as a quarter. looks at me and says, did i sink it dad? there was no issue. but he did learn something that day about a better way to head into oncoming surf...... as long as there's not a likelihood of causing a problem. i say let em drive (with the skipper very close by)..... perhaps not with extra folks onboard though.....

oh, i know my son was to young to operate a jetski or boat per modern rules. but there was no one around. myself. i was operating boats by that age too....... except i was doing it alone. wood fishing boats with small hp outboards.... the rules were different back in 69 and 70...

 

[OldePharte]

Re: hit the gas

There is a saying - Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: hit the gas

all of your family needs to know the basics, in operating the boat. the reason, you never know what emergency may come up, they may be need to get the boat to safety, or emergency services.

 

[mthieme]

Re: hit the gas

I can't help but ask what the extent of the lad's training is.
I've been tutoring my grandson - also 9 yo - for a while now. Just this year I let him at the helm with me right there. Fortunately he is conservative and even a little skiddish. I consider this a good thing.
First he learned some basic boat nomenclature, then came channel markers, then the rules of the road. We're working on right of way now. He has a long way to go before he can solo or even hand over the helm with my confidence. He will be going through boaters safety at some point too. Here in MD, you need a Boaters Safety Certificate to operate a vessel (unless you are an ancient mariner!). I anticipate he will be on the water much growing up and I want to encourage him as much as possible. Unfortunately, my expectations may be too high. I went through Power Squadron when I was 4 yo (mom and dad had no babysitter ?) and have been on the water my entire life. Sorry to be so long winded, my point was that it sounds like he needs more instruction.

 

[greggholmes]

Re: hit the gas

my mom told me once that i couldn't drive in the snow because i didn't have enough experience.

 

[SnappingTurtle]

Re: hit the gas

my mom told me once that i couldn't drive in the snow because i didn't have enough experience.

My girlfriends dad said, he wouldn't go anywhere, he hadn't been before.

I asked, when he started this way of living?

 

[Mark42]

Re: hit the gas

Since when does a 9 yr old decide how a boat is to be driven? His father is a bigger idiot than the kid. Everyone in the boat is lucky they didn't have to swim to shore.

 

[wgoodhoofd]

Re: hit the gas

My dad thought it would be a learning experience for me to pull our old 16' bowrider up the concrete ramp with a Pontiac Transport FWD. I think the tires were smokin' pretty good!

Fortunately now that I have my license I can pull out an 18' bowrider with 4WD and no slipping on a sand ramp.

 

[HappierWet]

Re: hit the gas

There is a saying - Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

My Grandfather used to say Kids and Dogs don't handle concepts but learn well from experience. Then he let us touch the electric fence so we understood why we were being told not to.