Ah, Boat Sales
The Seattle Boat Show is in town! This year's ad campaign features a cute graphic undoubtedly inspired by the popularity of Google Earth. Two power boats, starting almost side-by-side, peel away and inscribe a heart with their wakes:
Ain't that cute?
Now, instead of being Photoshopped, imagine this graphic was actually photographed from a helicopter. Here's the basic regulation governing the crossing of power-driven vessels, the rule that applies to the navigational situation shown in the ad:
When two power-driven vessels are crossing so as to involve risk of collision, the vessel which has the other on her own starboard side shall keep out of the way and shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, avoid crossing ahead of the other vessel. (Emphasis mine.)
(For you unfamiliar with nautical terms, the "starboard side" is the right side of the vessel when facing the bow, or front of the boat.)
Now imagine you were driving the vessel executing the wake on the heart's left-hand side. That little curly bit at the heart's base? That was you following Rule 2(b), swerving at the last minute because the pilot of the other boat refused to yield proper right-of-way as dictated clearly by Rule 15!
Every Coast Guard license candidate in the United States has to pass a very in-depth, closed book test covering the 38 parts of the Rules of the Road, including Annexes. Not only that, the candidate needs to pass with 90% correct. Also, license holder or not, everyone piloting a vessel is bound by the Rules. That said, it's a safe bet just about anyone working on the water could spot the image's problem in reality. Right?
Bizarre as it may seem, though, non-professional vessel operators (like those targeted by the ad and the show) are not required to test for Rules proficiency. Worse still, boat salespeople are not considered "professionals" . . . as the ad clearly shows. Oh, about boat sales folks and the marine incompetence many of them embodied, I could tell you stories.
Sigh.
Ain't that cute?
Now, instead of being Photoshopped, imagine this graphic was actually photographed from a helicopter. Here's the basic regulation governing the crossing of power-driven vessels, the rule that applies to the navigational situation shown in the ad:
When two power-driven vessels are crossing so as to involve risk of collision, the vessel which has the other on her own starboard side shall keep out of the way and shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, avoid crossing ahead of the other vessel. (Emphasis mine.)
(For you unfamiliar with nautical terms, the "starboard side" is the right side of the vessel when facing the bow, or front of the boat.)
Now imagine you were driving the vessel executing the wake on the heart's left-hand side. That little curly bit at the heart's base? That was you following Rule 2(b), swerving at the last minute because the pilot of the other boat refused to yield proper right-of-way as dictated clearly by Rule 15!
Every Coast Guard license candidate in the United States has to pass a very in-depth, closed book test covering the 38 parts of the Rules of the Road, including Annexes. Not only that, the candidate needs to pass with 90% correct. Also, license holder or not, everyone piloting a vessel is bound by the Rules. That said, it's a safe bet just about anyone working on the water could spot the image's problem in reality. Right?
Bizarre as it may seem, though, non-professional vessel operators (like those targeted by the ad and the show) are not required to test for Rules proficiency. Worse still, boat salespeople are not considered "professionals" . . . as the ad clearly shows. Oh, about boat sales folks and the marine incompetence many of them embodied, I could tell you stories.
Sigh.