Early on in my boat-testing career, I learned the hard way about what can happen when boating in unfamiliar waters. The boat company set up our test out of a beautiful Southwest Florida resort adjacent to Pine Island Sound. As I boarded the shiny new 30-foot cruiser and set to throw the lines, I asked the company rep where we should go to run the boat.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I’m from Wisconsin.”
A dockhand happened to overhear and said that whatever we do, don’t veer outside the marked channels. So we idled out and then started collecting performance data between the safety of the red and green channel markers. All went well until we started running at speed in a stretch of water where the channel markers seemed at least a half-mile apart. I decided to try a hard-over turn at speed—standard testing procedure—and wandered outside the designated channel by about 20 feet. Sure enough, we both heard and felt the whump of the bow slamming into soft sand, then the boat stopped moving. What was supposed to be a two-hour boat test turned into a six-hour one as we waited for the tide to rise.
Lesson learned.
When boating in unfamiliar waters, there are steps you can take to ensure that you don’t wind up high and dry—or worse.
Seek Out Local Knowledge
Unlike that boat test decades ago, a GPS and chart plotter now come standard on all but the simplest of boats. Make sure to update chart-plotter software to include whatever new waters you might be visiting, and also purchase a paper chart as a backup. But before you launch, ask around at the local docks and seek out people who regularly boat in the area. They will be able to share information about shifting sandbars, recent unmarked hazards, and quirky navigation tricks that might not be obvious. For instance, the spot where I ran aground gave away no telltale signs of being shallow, such as a color change, current seam or standing birds. To the naked eye, the water in the area looked exactly the same. We should have listened to the dockhand.
Another great resource is the Coast Guard’s Local Notices to Mariners, which can be found under the “LNMs” tab on its Navigation Center site (navcen.uscg.gov). From there you can select a region and find out if a buoy or nav beacon is down, if a sandbar has shifted at an inlet, etc.
Read The Water
It’s not always the case, but often your surrounding environment will provide clues as to what’s happening around you. Breaking waves in an inlet typically indicate a depth change and should be avoided. A drastic color change in the water can also reveal a spot where deeper water transitions to shallow. More-concentrated wind dimples can be a telltale sign of a depth change or a submerged hazard. Trust your senses; if something looks slightly off, it probably is.
Read Next: How to Avoid Underwater Boating Hazards
Stay the Course
You might think you’re safe just by monitoring your electronics and following the course laid out for you onscreen. But be sure to account for how wind and current affect your boat as you navigate. A crosswind or current can push you astray, even when you think you’re tracking true. And as we found out that fateful day, in some areas, straying even a few feet outside the channel can be the difference between safely reaching port and being hopelessly stranded.
