The Good Boat Company

Handling a cruiser is much easier than people think. We offer all our customers free boat handling tuition out on the river, and ensure that your happy handling the boat yourself before leaving our marina for your boating holiday. Our boat hand over procedure is accredited by the British Marine Federation handover audit scheme.

A brief guide to boat handling

Setting off

Start the engine a few minutes before you plan to leave and keep it in neutral to give it a chance to warm up before you move off. Once your ready, untie the down stream rope from the mooring post first, making sure that the rope does not trail in the water, and then do the same with the upstream mooring rope. Boats steer from the back, you cannot drive away from the bank as you would in a car. First, check for boat traffic, waiting until its clear, then push the boat away from the bank so you can make a clean get away. Remember to keep to the right hand side, you drive on the right in all waterways.

Underway

Once underway please remember to slow down when passing anglers and other river users. Try to avoid creating a bow wave, or a lowering of the water along the bank just ahead of the boat. These are signs that you should slow down to prevent damage to the river banks, and disturbance to anglers and other boaters. The speed limits on the Norfolk Broads are between 3 and 6 MPH, this is mainly intended to reduce bank erosion. Please remember this when your out in you boat, and try to help us all protect this delicate environment.

Boats don''t have breaks! You need to give yourself plenty of time to stop, especially when travelling downstream, or with a strong wind behind you. To bring the boat to a stop ease off the throttle and move into neutral. You can then use short bursts of reverse to slow down and stop your boat. However, be aware that its difficult to steer a boat in reverse gear, you may need an occasional forward boost to get better control.

Be aware that sailing craft have right of way over motor boats. You have much more control over your craft than they do. Remember to slow down, it''s often best to pass a sailing boat astern, altering course if necessary. Pay attention to the crew of the sailing boat, they may indicate which way they want you to pass.

Steering a boat is very similar to steering a car. However, the boat will take a couple of seconds to respond to changes in direction, and it can be difficult to judge when the rudder is in position for going straight ahead. Take time to get to know the wheel and rudder positions before you leave. Remember that the rudder is located towards the rear of the boat, typically this leads to a pivot point about halfway along the length of the boat. You need to be aware of this, and watch out for the front and the back of the boat when maneuvering in more confined areas of the broads, and when heading into and out of moorings. If you only line up the front of your boat, and try to turn into a narrow gap, you may and up hitting something with the back of your boat as it swings round.

Mooring up

Slow down almost to a stop and carry out all your manoeuvres as slowly as possible. Stop short of where you want to moor with your boat straight. Move forward very slowly, pointing the front of the boat towards the bank, then use reverse to stop the boat just before the front¬† hits the bank. Put the engine into neutral. On rivers, you should always moor with the front of your boat facing upstream or into a very strong wind. So, if you‚Äôre heading downstream, you‚Äôll need to pass the mooring and turn your boat around. Allow for the fact that the water level may rise or fall by several feet. Your crew should step ashore, not jump. They can either carry the ropes with them‚ making sure there's plenty of slack and that one end is fixed to the boat‚ or you can pass them the ropes once they're on land.

For a side on mooring, secure the upstream rope first to the bollards or rings as available, and then secure the down stream rope. Do not turn the engine off until you have secured the boat to the moorings with mooring ropes at either end. Remember to leave some slack on the ropes, the broads are tidal so the water level will rise and fall throughout the day. Keep the ropes out of the water as they can get caught around the propeller.