Getting Started in Powerboating

Getting Started in Powerboating is a friendly beginner's guide that concentrates on what you need to know when you first take the helm. This second edition includes a revised gallery of good powerboats, new material on basic safety, preparations to go offshore, and improved illustrations of tricky maneuvers.

Getting Started in Powerboating covers all powerboats--big and small; single-engine, twin-engine, outboard, and sterndrive; trailerable and non-trailerable; fast planing hulls and slow but seaworthy displacement hulls; and everything in between. It can help you decide what kind of boat is right for you, and it describes fully the characteristic handling and behavior of each type.

Bob Armstrong tells you how to dock any boat under any conditions of wind, current, and crowding, and how to leave a slip with a minimum of fuss. He explains how to handle docklines, how to execute close-quarters maneuvers, how to anchor, run inlets, adjust trim for a better ride, and cope with heavy weather. He offers hints for judging the quality of a boat, tips for quick mastery of a boat you've never handled before, and an expert's views on the types of powerboats available--from runabouts to motoryachts to houseboats, jetboats, and catamarans--and what to expect from each.