timjet wrote:
We've owned our boat for a year and a half. She picked out the boat and is still very enthusiastic about cruising on it. I don't want to change that. However she does not like or want to learn how to operate it. I've explained the many situations that may require her to have the skills necessary to do some basic boat maneuvering but still she does not want to learn and is very reluctant to take the helm in close quarters or in a channel with oncoming traffic. I've noticed her depth perception is not good as she is concerned about traffic that has no conflict potential, so I attribute this as one reason for her reluctance to taking the helm.*
While at anchor recently our windlass failed and she had to maneuver the boat up to the anchor so I could retrieve it manually. She did fine but I could tell she did not want to do this even though she realized there was no other way. Afterwards we spent some time allowing her to maneuver the boat in that same anchorage with the anchor stowed. Again she did fine, but did not want to do it.*
So, in order to keep her*enthusiasum*about using the boat I've decided to stop encouraging her to learn how to maneuver it. Our cruising grounds are the ICW in southern FL so if I was incapacitated she could set the anchor and call for help, which she does know how to do.*
I'm sure this is an issue with some others and could like to hear your comments.*
My wife would not operate any of our previous boats because they were "too fast".* She will operate our trawler* in open water and on the ICW and she will operate it as I deploy and retrieve the anchor but she will not operate it in a congested area or attempt to dock it.
She doesn't understand or know how to use the VHF or chart plotter other than to follow a pre loaded route.* I doubt she knows how to deploy the anchor by herself.
Does this concern me?* -* Yes, it does.* If something happens to me on the water and I'm not already dead, I would hope to be rescued and restored to health.
I'm trying to figure out how to teach her about operating the boat and electronics, but so far, I haven't come up with much.* If I could find a "women only" boating class taught by women, I would send her to it.* I think that would work better than me trying to teach her.