About 35 years ago, we owned a 27 ft. Catalina sailboat. My wife and I took a Coast Guard course and we thought that we knew something about running a boat.
99% of the time, I was Captain and she was only along for the ride. We took another couple with us a few times.
On one of those adventures in Galveston Bay (525 square miles of water, 3rd largest bay in the US)...I decided that it would be best if someone else knew how to run the boat...at least enough to come and get me if I fell overboard.
I had the wheel in my hand, steering the craft, tacking off the wind. The winds were very mild. Hardly any waves showed a whitecap. I stood up and said, loudly..."I have just fallen overboard." As I said that... I threw a bright orange lifejacket over the side. I stood back and watched what happened.
After a bit, it became evident that I had to ...verbally... help a little.
My buddy Tom, who wasn't all that much of a sailor, (admitted by him), took the wheel. To keep from capsizing the boat, I told them to drop the sails, and go get "me" with the motor. The boat sported a 4 cylinder inboard Atomic 4 which put out 30 hp. Thirty HP was far more than that sailboat really needed, but it came with the used-boat when I bought it.
All of the time that this was going on, I also told them that one of them had to stand up and point at "me" in the water. They were to keep pointing at me, no matter what direction the boat turned or ran.
About twenty minutes later, they finally ran "me" over with the bow of the boat.
The point of the exercise was to alert them as to what to do if I, or anyone, fell overboard. Since I "died" that day, we did that exercise again the next time out. I survived the second.... Falling Overboard... encounter.
That exercise is not a bad idea if you fish or boat with inexperienced friends or spouses.
richg99
