Labor Day twilight cruise with kiddos captaining...

[SilentSeven]

Last of the daylight with an idle cruise around the shoreline....

[NautiqueJeff]

I let my 13-year-old drive for a little while the other night. Slow speeds, empty lake, and me right there with him watching everything.

[SilentSeven]

I recognize that guy! It's v-drive impeller guy! I think he's earned it. On my pic, that's my 15 year old son (no boating license) and 13 year old daughter (has boating license)

[spenclo123]

Great pics of the kiddo's! Here's one of me and my 15 year old in our '97 SN and one of him behind our recently acquired '83.

[SilentSeven]

Nice! You and your son are dead ringers! And I love that 196...my now gone 196 had those same colors.

[spenclo123]

Thanks, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Yeah the '97 I bought from the original owner (3 years ago at 600 hours), with the '83 from the original owner also (1100 hours in July '20). The '83 was in Indianapolis and crazy story, the owner who I bought it from, actually purchased it here in Marietta, GA (literally 2 miles from where I live), in '83 and had the original invoice, so I brought it back home when I bought it. I see you are in Bellevue, we love it up there as we have a place in Whistler so we're up that way in the winter.

[SilentSeven]

That's a cool story! Hope you can get to Whistler this year with all border mess. Such a great place...spent a lot of time on those mountains!

[srock]

Some of you may or may not like this. My 13 year old son is hands down on of my best drivers and he really started in earnest at 12. He pulls me primarily wakeboarding and we do keep an adult in the passengers seat. I realize it's not for some kids but my son was a sponge and took pride in his skill as we initially worked through driving points with and without a riders.

We ride in a relatively quite area of a river but he is right on point even when other traffic shows up. I credit time behind the boat and he raced motocross since he was 5. That really gave him confidence and calmness at the controls and most importantly situational awareness.


Teaching topics for a young driver delivered a little at a time.

Off the top of my head:
Throttle down and quite turns back to fallen skier as faster and to avoid rollers.
Pick up/pass person in the water on driver side for visibility and how to efficiently "deliver" the rope to the rider.
Making sure the rope is not hung up and working out slack.
Swing of transom opposite of turning especially in avoidance of object.
Making sure people are prepared and not thrown when accelerating or decelerating.
If you screw up at dock its better to bump than to throttle jockey into a bigger issue.
Remembering to look to the sides before turning.
How to handle a following craft to protect your rider.
Straight pulls versus following shoreline.
Hand signals for speed, pickup.
Wake adjustment of ballast and people load.
How to protect your rider from incoming and following traffic.
Safely "shutting" down when that pack of 10 jet skis show up.

Then the concept of "you are in charge" when behind the wheel:
What to do in the event of injury or emergency and different scenarios.
The importance of a thinking with a controlled, cool head if **** breaks loose and if others freak out.
The concept of being the Captain in Charge. Filtering input - right from wrong and how to handle a sometimes over abundance of input and direction..often from his mom.
The concept of staying calm, thinking and not being "pushed around" or into bad decision by others and/or other boaters.

[mooneywa]

srock - I like that you capitalized the C in Captain. We say that a lot at my flying job: be a capital C Captain. Sounds like you're teaching your son the right things and responsibility along the way.

[SilentSeven]

That's a great list.