Midwest Book Review
The author's lifetime of small boat experience lends to his discussion of the basics of powerboating for beginners. From choosing a boat and maneuvering in various waters to overcoming problems associated with drives and handling boats in wind and current, this packs in specific details.


Book Description

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.


About the Author
Born in Maine and currently a resident of South Florida, Robert J. Armstrong has a lifetime of small-boat experience. A U.S. Coast Guard Licensed Master, he has been a captain since 1962, operating everything from small, open, outboard-powered skiffs to 600-passenger cruise vessels. Diverted from boats only by a few years as a television writer/producer/director, Bob has been a boating journalist since the mid-1970s, specializing in boat reviews and seamanship articles. He is currently a senior editor with Power and Motoryacht magazine and professional captain of a 79-foot steel trawler yacht. He has worked as a delivery skipper and has taught seamanship and boat handling in the classroom and on the water.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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.