Boating Safety Rant

I don't want anyone to get the impression that the trip was so easy that anyone could do it tomorrow. Yes, anyone can do it...but only with the proper preparation and equipment, a good amount of prior boating experience, a well-maintained boat, an attitude and appetite for adventure, and the grace of God. I have made several similar journeys between south Florida and Texas and points beyond in a previous life (20 years ago with my late husband), and I have maintained and grown in my boating knowledge and expertise over the years. Kenn has had as much boating experience as I have, although little of his had been in coastal waters until the last couple of years. He is a quick study in all things nautical, with a high regard for safety. I have never had a better boating or sailing partner.

Barney and Vickie have been boating for years as well. Barn has raced boats, offshore cigarette boats and high speed catamarans. They have also spent a lot of time in Gulf and Atlantic coastal waters with various boats they've owned.

None of us can emphasize enough that if you attempt such an adventure that you spend the time and money necessary to ascertain that your vessel is capable of completing the journey while keeping captain and crew as comfortable and safe as possible. You don't have to have the latest and greatest in electronics or equipment, but everything should be serviced and working properly with plenty of spare parts to back you up in a pinch. You should also temper your adventurous nature with a healthy dose of common sense, usually erring on the side of caution when faced with a potentially dangerous situation. Another thing, always be able to recognize danger when you see it...DRINKING AND BOATING DON'T MIX!!!! Especially this type of boating.

One thing that I can't stress enough is this: Don't always depend on your electronic GPS, radar and SATNAV equipment. For the most part they work beautifully, but the satellites that transmit information to your receivers can be turned off for civilian use in certain circumstances and without any warning to civilians. If you're going offshore, you should know how to navigate and chart a course using the same tools that Columbus used...paper charts, a magnetic compass, handheld dividers and parallel rules, a star chart and sextant for star and sun sightings. You need to be able to accurately determine a corrected course, accounting for set and drift (how winds, tidal and current movement affect your vessel's track along your desired course). To blindly depend on electronic nav equipment without knowing how to navigate the 'old way' is the height of foolishness.

Know your boat. More importantly, know your boat's limitations! If your boat has a 350 mile fuel range, don't expect it to take you and your crew over 650 miles across the Gulf in open water. If you don't have a life raft and offshore life safety gear with an EPIRB, you have no business heading out across open water in the first place. You'll have 4 to 7 days of motoring day and night to make it across, and the Gulf can toss up large squalls and intense isolated storms at a moments notice at any time of the year.

If you have a boat with only a 200-gallon fuel tank, you darned well better know EXACTLY how far the 180 usable gallons will take you, at various speeds and under most common conditions. I will guarantee you that there is some amount of fuel at the bottom of the tank that falls below the pickup point for the fuel pump. If there isn't, you'll most certainly wish it were so if your fuel pump sucks up the sludge and slime off the bottom of the tank and carries it to your engine(s). You'll get a quick lesson in changing out a fuel filter, bleeding and clearing lines when you can least afford to lose the time or your steerage and control of the boat. A stalled boat floating down the Mississippi in a 5-knot current is an accident waiting to happen, and someone will get hurt. A stalled boat offshore in a 40-knot squall with 15- to 20-foot seas means that someone will probably die. It could be you, or it could be one of your crew. You're the captain; you're as responsible for their lives as you are for your own. It isn't just a moral obligation, it's maritime law.