A Veteran Boater’s Guide to the COVID Boating Generation
December 18, 2023 4 min read
If you’re a veteran boater, you’ve probably experienced the massive — and rather sudden — increase in new boat owners since 2019. The combination of travel restrictions, increased work-from-home opportunities and stimulus checks helped many people discover their local waterways and, in many cases, take the plunge into boat ownership.
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Realizing Something I’d Forgotten
These new boat owners are generally easy to spot. You can often find them at your local boat launch with a long line of trucks behind them as they try to figure out how to back their boat down the ramp. You can find them on unmarked sandbars with their boats at a 10-degree list waiting for the tide to come in. You might find them plowing slowly, just off plane and on the wrong side of a busy channel, unaware of the chaos around them. Sometimes, you find them in serious trouble as they learn the hard way about the unforgiving aspects of boating.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit the number of times I’ve grumbled while waiting half an hour at a ramp watching a new boat owner launching for the first time on a busy Saturday morning.
I’ve been guilty of shaking my head in disgust as I tried to navigate around someone who clearly didn’t know the basic rules of navigation. And I’ve towed many a boater back to dock, rolling my eyes and wondering who forgets to check their fuel level before going out.
I’ve towed many a boater back to dock, rolling my eyes and wondering who forgets to check their fuel level before going out.
For a while, it got so bad that I found myself more aggravated than relaxed after a day on the water. That’s about the time my son bought his first boat, and I realized something I’d forgotten.
Teaching my son the basics of boating reminded me of all the hard lessons I had learned along the way: the terror I felt the first time I had to back a boat down a steep ramp, or the number of times I left the plug out of the boat, or the straps on it, while launching. I had blocked out those “hard aground” moments from my now distant past.
An Advantage Many New Boaters Don’t Have
But I was lucky. Like my son, I had a father who grew up around boats and helped me learn the basics of boat ownership, from maintenance to navigation, and everything in between. That’s an advantage many veteran boaters have had, and one that many new boaters do not. Many of the post-COVID boating generation are starting their journey later in life, and without any help or guidance. The internet can only do so much for a new boat owner; the rest has to come from experience.
Every new boat owner that I could help walk away smarter was one less guy I’d be waiting for at the boat ramp.
There’s an old saying that, given enough time, you earn the world that you get to experience. The way we consistently react to a situation will affect how that situation evolves over time. This increase in new boat owners is a reality we are all going to live with. The question is, what can we do about it?
An Opportunity to Influence the Situation
As I worked with my son and watched his mistakes, I started to realize that I had an opportunity to influence the situation around me more broadly. If I can help my son learn to back a boat down properly, I can help a random stranger do the same. If I can help my son understand some basic rules of navigation, I can find ways to help the guy creating chaos on the waterway. Instead of being aggravated by the mistakes new boaters were making, I began looking for opportunities to help them on their own journey. Every new boat owner that I could help walk away smarter was one less guy I’d be waiting for at the boat ramp.
Instead of spending a fishing day being aggravated by what I see, I get a charge out of helping someone over a hurdle.
Even in a medium sized city, it’s amazing how small the boating community is. My local ramp sees an enormous amount of boat traffic, but after a while, I realized that it’s largely the same people. The guy I helped back his boat down a few weeks ago is no longer clogging traffic.
The family who I helped off a sandbar isn’t terrorizing the intercoastal anymore. The millennial with the brand-new center console hasn’t forgotten his plug or his straps in at least the last two times I’ve seen him launch.
Boaters Helping Boaters
I don’t go around offering to help everyone who needs it; there are certainly plenty that clearly wouldn’t want or accept my help. But I’m on the lookout now, and the opportunities come more often than I would have expected.
Sometimes it comes in the form of helping a friend or acquaintance who just bought a boat.
Sometimes it’s just that stranger that you can tell would be open to a friendly offer.
Instead of spending a fishing day being aggravated by what I see, I get a charge out of helping someone over a hurdle.
The other day, my son came home from a fishing trip on his own boat. He was lit up as he pulled into the driveway to wash the boat down. I was eager to hear about the fish he caught, but that’s not what he was so happy about. “Dad,” he said, rather proudly, “you won’t believe what I did for some guy at the boat ramp. He’d forgotten to put the plug in and his boat was seriously about to sink. I backed his trailer down because he couldn’t do it fast enough, and we got the boat out just in time. I told him about having a pre-launch routine so he never forgets, just like you taught me. I even showed him how to back the trailer up better.”
At 17, he’s figuring out what being a true veteran boat owner means faster than his old man did.
