Crossing the Line: The Ultimate Boating Knowledge Quiz
![](https://canadianboating.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Credit-Shutterstock_Companionway-escalators.jpg)
By John Morris
February marks the nadir of winter when we need to find alternate means to keep the boating candle lit. Are you a knowledgeable boater? Take this stupid test.
- What does VHF stand for?
a. High falutin’
b. Very high falutin’
c. Communication with very high antennas - Know your channel markers:
a. Do nun buoys have a religious implication?
b. There are red buoys and green buoys, but why not purple? - “Freeboard” means:
a. Pancake breakfast and hearty lunch included
b. Help yourself to one of these planks
c. Something more profound - When a Texan says ‘Howdy Yawl’ is he or she:
a. Being friendly if persistent
b. Checking your mizzen
c. Paying homage to regional boating dialect - Boats float according to (see graphic below):
a. Le Chatelier’s principle
b. Murphy’s Law
c. Some Scottish guy from the 18th century - Identify these nautical terms:
Draft
a. Beer taps onboard
b. Close the hatch and hand me a sweater, honey, there’s a chilly nor’easter
Beam
a. Me up, Scotty
b. Mr. Beam – noted mute British comic boat captain
Wakeboarding
a. Similar to waterboarding but more fun
b. The future tense of woke – politically sensitive watersports - Sonar is:
a. A cartoon hedgehog
b. A means of communicating with fish
c. Solar energy at night - Know your Canadian manufacturers. Match these famous builders with their claim to notoriety:
a. Flounder Harbour Boats
b. D&D Yachts
c. Manitoba Dryland
d. Cape Nudnik Boatworks
e. Spam Island Aluminum
i. Offshore boats with square sails
ii. First onboard chicken rotisserie
iii. Solar-powered hairdryers in each cabin
iv. Companionway escalators
v. Inflatable rudder - The Trent Canal System was originally built:
a. To ship Amazon packages to Parry Sound
b. Because locks are meaningless without bagels and cream cheese
c. To transport oats from Thunder Bay to the Quaker porridge facility in Peterborough - “Whatever Floats Your Boat” was recorded by:
a. Ringo Star and Keith Richards under the pseudonym “the Stuffing Boxes”
b. The Power Squadron Glee Club of North Vancouver
c. Buddy Melges
![](https://canadianboating.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Credit-Shutterstock-_Flotation-explained.jpg)
If you even attempted this quiz, we have some very deep concerns.
If you scored 24-30 points you earn the title, Master-Boater. I cannot help it your friends make fun of that. Learn to live with it.
12-24 points. That’s not bad and they can be redeemed for a quart of VC17 at the Binnacle.