Handling and seamanship

Throttle

The lever that sets engine power, and with it speed, in a machine with no brakes.

The throttle on most boats is a single lever: forward through a neutral detent into reverse. Small, smooth movements are the skill; the boat answers late, and there are no brakes, only reverse and planning.

Around docks, work in short idle bursts in and out of gear rather than riding the power. Speed you did not add is speed you do not have to get rid of against a piling.

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Put the words to work

Vocabulary is easier at the helm.

The free South Carolina boater safety course teaches all of this in twelve chapters with a sixty question practice exam, and when you are ready for the water itself, one form gets you rental quotes from local operators.

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