Not in Kansas anymore

New owner of a Grand Banks 36. After owning small boats for years my wife and I decided to step up preparing to adjourn to the northern gulf coast in our starter trawler. Lots to learn and looking forward to learning from those that have gone before....
And are still going

Welcome aboard. Nice looking boat -- thanks for sharing. Any particular destination in mind re the Northern Gulf coast???

jwnall said:

Welcome aboard. Nice looking boat -- thanks for sharing. Any particular destination in mind re the Northern Gulf coast???

Click to expand...

First order of business is practice, practice, practice, going from Pensacola to Appalachicola- back and forth getting to know the area and the boat.
1st major goal - cruise to the keys and back

Congrats on your new boat!

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

Starter? Well you should be considered WELL started. Beautiful choice. Congrats.

Nice pick for a starter boat. I like the 36 GB lines. You, sir, have good taste!

I'm looking forward to also seeing your final boat!

Good choice in boats. If you haven't joined the Grand Banks forum you may want to. www.grandbanksowners.com

Welcome to the forum! Congratulations on the new boat.

Ted

Welcome aboard!

I'm new to boating also, and since my boat 3888 Bayliner is on the hard up
in Iowa. I'm taking a one week boating class in Cape Coral
next week. Hopefully I will learn a lot and get a lot of
practice. I'm antsy to start cruising the old Miss and
get to a warm climate in 18 months.
I have to places I must go to, Bimini and the Dry Tortugas.
I saw them in college and I want to take my own boat to them.

ctbarbarian said:

I'm new to boating also, and since my boat 3888 Bayliner is on the hard up
in Iowa. I'm taking a one week boating class in Cape Coral
next week. Hopefully I will learn a lot and get a lot of
practice. I'm antsy to start cruising the old Miss and
get to a warm climate in 18 months.
I have to places I must go to, Bimini and the Dry Tortugas.
I saw them in college and I want to take my own boat to them.

Click to expand...

HI CT
My wife and I took classes last year at SWFY, we took P101, 102 & 103.
We had a great time, the people there were great.
We had Captn Bill as our instructor of all 3 courses and we had a ball learning. He has a way of getting you to learn things and then explaining later when you are operating the boat why you had you learn that.

My wife took them also and he had her doing things with the 42 ft boat she would never attempt to do on our 21 ft. She loved it.

Signed up for the same classes, 101 and 102,
I can't wait to learn but the wife is really getting
nervous about driving anything bigger than a
toyota camry.
We are staying on the Misled a twin diesel

SWFY - Southwest Florida Yachts? Looking for training. In the past my wife has been the self described bow ornament (her words) and I think training together and not Spouse directed training would be best. She claims I'm losing my patience as I age.

Wifey B: I think training together is the way to go and especially with a knowledgeable captain in a fun environment which is what they do. I think these courses you're talking about can sure lessen a lot of anxiety. In 2001 I was new to small boats and hubby trained me. He was a patient and loving trainer. I know most of the time spousal training probably not good. I knew how much he loved his boat and when he had me operating it and docking it that meant a lot to me that he had the confidence. I can still remember the first time I docked it. It felt so cool. Oh and he did reward me very well. Call it teacher with benefits.

Now coastal and bigger boats we both had to learn and we did it together. 50/50. I think most of us are more comfortable in a car when we're driving than when someone else is. When it's someone else you're thinking "look out for that, slow down, speed up, stop". The more you ride with them the more comfortable. Hitting a few waves when someone else is at the helm and you've never done it makes you nervous. But when you do it and you know how and you know what the other person is doing then suddenly it's no big deal. You know what the helmsman is doing, you understand what the boat is capable of. I can't imagine not learning how to operate the boat anymore than not knowing how to drive a car. I spend a lot more time on boats than in cars.

Welcome aboard. Beautiful boat.

Welcome aboard. Good advice can be found here.

Congratulations, beautiful boat. Single or twin?

Hi Helen - Its a single, John Deere w/o thrusters and I think I'm going to be able to learn to manage it. Had a much smaller twin Chris Craft and was a little skeptical about a bout this big with single