Editor’s Note: Back 2 School

September 25, 2025

Bowling is less complicated. Physical skill and practice = success. Ditto Golf. Driving (a race car, even) is more complicated. Add in strategy, navigation, understanding the rules of the road and mechanical awareness. RV-ing requires some of those skills plus a bit of plumbing.

So why do we go boating where we are required to be constantly tested on all that but at a higher level (example driving to the mall requires some navigating but there are no submerged rocks or narrow channels marked by hard to see at night posts.) The many mechanical systems in boats require expertise; the electronic equipment on board demands technology skills while maintaining fibreglass, stainless and canvas in a hostile environment means studying chemistry and a loot of dexterity. And lets not even discuss docking in a crosswind, which demands boat handling skills plus a sound budget for flowers after interpersonal breakdowns.

The result is that many more people bowl, golf, and drive cars than boat. But for those of us who do, there remains a constant education process. Fortunately, there’s CanBoat and the internet to instruct and answer questions about arcane corners of the boating world. And now is the time.  Read, research, take classes. If you have made notes all summer (I forgot to), you soon will have winter to address everything that remains unanswered. What size fenders? Best MOB procedures? Why does the head level keep rising?

Some say the Canadian winter is a curse; as an chance to build skills, it’s an almost-welcome opportunity.

John Morris, Online Editor

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