{"id":5488,"date":"2025-02-28T10:02:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T10:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=5488"},"modified":"2025-02-28T10:02:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T10:02:29","slug":"safely-navigating-unfamiliar-waters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=5488","title":{"rendered":"Safely Navigating Unfamiliar Waters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    Safely Navigating Unfamiliar Waters<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    <!-- no image --><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><\/p>\n<div>\n<section class=\"hydra-container\">\n<div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/02\/BTG225-SEA-Unfamiliar-1024x768.jpg?resize=800%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"hydra-image disable-lazyload\" alt=\"Boat in shallow water\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/02\/BTG225-SEA-Unfamiliar-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/02\/BTG225-SEA-Unfamiliar-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/02\/BTG225-SEA-Unfamiliar-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/02\/BTG225-SEA-Unfamiliar-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/02\/BTG225-SEA-Unfamiliar.jpg 2000w\">                <\/div><figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">Boating in unfamiliar waters can be fun with the right preparation.<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Parilov \/ Adobe Stock<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/section>\n<p><iframe id=\"wxuzj5efbz\" src=\"https:\/\/boatingmag.dragonforms.com\/wxuzj5efbz\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"width:100%;height:165px;border:none;overflow:hidden;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>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\u00a0asked the company rep where we should go to run the boat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he answered. \u201cI\u2019m from Wisconsin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A dockhand happened to \u00adoverhear and said that whatever we do, don\u2019t veer outside the marked channels. So we idled out and then started \u00adcollecting performance data between the safety of the red and green channel markers. All went well \u00aduntil 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\u2014\u00adstandard testing procedure\u2014and wandered outside the designated channel by about 20 feet. Sure enough, we both heard and felt the <em>whump<\/em> of the bow \u00adslamming 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.<\/p>\n<p>Lesson learned.<\/p>\n<p>When boating in unfamiliar waters, there are steps you can take to ensure that you don\u2019t wind up high and dry\u2014or worse.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Seek Out Local \u00adKnowledge<\/h2>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Another great resource is the Coast Guard\u2019s Local Notices to Mariners, which can be found under the \u201cLNMs\u201d tab on its \u00adNavigation Center site (navcen\u200b.uscg.gov). From there you can \u00adselect a region and find out if a buoy or nav beacon is down, if a\u00a0sandbar has shifted at an inlet, etc.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Read The Water<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s not \u00adalways the case, but often your \u00adsurrounding environment will provide clues as to what\u2019s 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-\u00adconcentrated wind dimples can be a \u00adtelltale sign of a depth change or a submerged hazard. Trust your \u00adsenses; if something looks slightly off, it probably is.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Next:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/story\/how-to\/how-to-avoid-underwater-boating-hazards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to Avoid Underwater Boating Hazards<\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stay the Course<\/h2>\n<p>You might think you\u2019re safe just by monitoring your electronics and \u00adfollowing 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\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/how-to\/safely-navigating-unfamiliar-waters\/\">Safely Navigating Unfamiliar Waters<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/\">Boating Mag<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    Pete McDonald<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/how-to\/safely-navigating-unfamiliar-waters\/\">Go to boatingmag<\/a><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Safely Navigating Unfamiliar Waters Boating in unfamiliar waters can be fun with the right preparation. Parilov \/ Adobe Stock 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2168,126,175,2561,684],"tags":[127],"class_list":["post-5488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boating-safety","category-boatingmag","category-how-to","category-march-2025","category-seamanship","tag-boatingmag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}