Aeolus_IV
New member
Re: B******S
Having sat on our boat and watched (while cringing) somebody trying to drive their 35+ foot power boat out of their berth and down the fairway - I can say that if you don't know what you are doing it is difficult to handle a powerboat at low speed. The chap in question missed our stern by a few feet and proceeded to "snake" down the fairway with armfulls of port and starboar lock on his steering and the bow thruster doing overtime. Halfway down the fairway you turn to starboard 90deg, at this point he got the boat sidesways and bailed out, putting the boat onto the nearest pontoon. I couldn't watch after that.
So yes, driving a powerboat can be difficult, but not all yachts are easy.
I've watched a friend on his Trintella 29 have four goes at getting out of his berth and fail - eventually working his way sideways along the fairway - long keel, transom hung rudder with aperture for prop - no prop wash to work with. We've done similar with Aeolus - offset port side prop, again no prop wash to work with.
The reason for the apparent discrimination is more likely to be (as Tome and others suggest), that these power boats are simply more expensive to repair and maintain, so it must over time make business sense to "filter" who you charter your boats to. Working on the theory that owners of power boats are likely to know how to handle them better than raggies isn't unreasonable - even if it's not necessarily right.
Still - why would I need to charter one of these anyway?
Jeff.
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Having sat on our boat and watched (while cringing) somebody trying to drive their 35+ foot power boat out of their berth and down the fairway - I can say that if you don't know what you are doing it is difficult to handle a powerboat at low speed. The chap in question missed our stern by a few feet and proceeded to "snake" down the fairway with armfulls of port and starboar lock on his steering and the bow thruster doing overtime. Halfway down the fairway you turn to starboard 90deg, at this point he got the boat sidesways and bailed out, putting the boat onto the nearest pontoon. I couldn't watch after that.
So yes, driving a powerboat can be difficult, but not all yachts are easy.
I've watched a friend on his Trintella 29 have four goes at getting out of his berth and fail - eventually working his way sideways along the fairway - long keel, transom hung rudder with aperture for prop - no prop wash to work with. We've done similar with Aeolus - offset port side prop, again no prop wash to work with.
The reason for the apparent discrimination is more likely to be (as Tome and others suggest), that these power boats are simply more expensive to repair and maintain, so it must over time make business sense to "filter" who you charter your boats to. Working on the theory that owners of power boats are likely to know how to handle them better than raggies isn't unreasonable - even if it's not necessarily right.
Still - why would I need to charter one of these anyway?
Jeff.
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