Perfect day to Start!

[Nozgo]

Hail to Everyone!
Well, I find it ironic and fitting that I am starting my first post on these forums on our 12th wedding anniversary! I just wanted to say hello(my normal intro has been "HAIL" since my DnD days) and intro myself since I have been pilfering so much info from these AWESOME forums! So far the wife and I have only been on a couple of captained charters and we are set up to go through a week long set of ASA courses so that we can charter our first solo trip. That is already booked for June of this year in St. Petersburg FL. Then 4 days after we complete that, we are chartering our first solo boat for 4 days so that we can learn some more! I have not been this excited since I started Truck driving school at the age of 32.
I am going to say this for the first time, but definitely NO the last!
THANK YOU ALL!!!
So very many of you have already helped prepare me so much!! I have been reading these forums for about a year now(that is when we took our first captained charter tour @ Galveston).
My wife and I are both hooked! We are on a 4-5 year plan to simplify our life-styles, graduate our last child from HS, and refinance the house so that we can get our first cruiser and live roughly 60/40% onboard(the wife wants 40/60% but I lean more towards 60/40). Until then, it is research, resreach, research! We have plenty of time to fill the garage with nautical goodies galore! We have taken snorkeling lessons, practiced knot tying, priced electronic charging equipment, taken online coastal navigation classes and built a budget to plan for all the unexpected things we have not even thought of yet! We will be chartering at least one different type of boat every year, and I intend on lending myself out as a crewman every chance I get on my way to being able to make people call me CAPTAIN !
Well, that was far more winded than I wanted to be for my first post, but well, I guess that tells you all a little something about me...*shrugs* Again, thanks to this wonderful group of well-seasoned fountains of information! I tend to read more and ask questions after I have gotten myself to a point that I am trapped... I hate to look as dumb as I really am.
My only question is.... what is a jib?!
I hope salty dogs like to play euchre!!

[CSY Man]

. make people call me CAPTAIN !

Better join the military and get the rank as a Captain.
Or at least, get a USCG Master Licence, then you could call yourself a Captain, or at least a Skipper.
An operator of a pleasure boat is not a "Captain".
Sorry.

[Nozgo]

For the love of all that is good, please do not tell my wife and kids that!!

[CSY Man]

Originally Posted by Nozgo

For the love of all that is good, please do not tell my wife and kids that!!

Sorry to be a party pooper, but a guy playing with a sailboat is not necessarily a Captain, but rather a Sailboater unless he holds the official rank of Captain.

[Jim Cate]

Nozgo, welcome aboard CF, and enjoy your transition to a sailor.

But please listen to CSY man above, and forgo the "Captain" stuff. Yotties who call themselves "Captain" when they do not actually have that title also tend to wear funny little hats with gold braid on the rim, and generally act like jerks. It may gain you the respect of your family, but it will not do so for your fellow cruisers.

Jim (whose rank is dogsbody on really good days)

[Nozgo]

It was meant quite facetiously. I can't actually picture anyone "making" people call them any title... unless you're actually in the military. But hey, if in that wall of text I spewed that is what stood out, well then it must be of utmost importance and I will heed the good advice and definitely not jest of such things.

[CSY Man]

Originally Posted by Nozgo

It was meant quite facetiously. I can't actually picture anyone "making" people call them any title... unless you're actually in the military. But hey, if in that wall of text I spewed that is what stood out, well then it must be of utmost importance and I will heed the good advice and definitely not jest of such things.

Probably not important, but annoying perhaps, I find it a bit daft, but most sailors are fine people and don't try it or go there.
I am a Commercial boat driver and Commercial airline Pilot, but never call myself Captain, even if I could, I guess.
By the old rules however, Captain is a military rank, but is used frequently in the business of boating and flying for a living.
The technicaly corect title is Master and Pilot in Command, yet when on the speakers with passengers I have said hundreds of times: This is your Captain speaking.
Guilty as well I guess.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

Probably not important, but annoying perhaps, I find it a bit daft, but most sailors are fine people and don't try it or go there.
I am a Commercial boat driver and Commercial airline Pilot, but never call myself Captain, even if I could, I guess.
By the old rules however, Captain is a military rank, but is used frequently in the business of boating and flying for a living.
The technicaly corect title is Master and Pilot in Command, yet when on the speakers with passengers I have said hundreds of times: This is your Captain speaking.
Guilty as well I guess.

It's something I feel strongly about.

It's fine to call yourself "your Captain" or "the Captain" when you are actually in command of a boat or aircraft and talking about yourself.

It's also OK for people to address you as "Captain" when you in are command of a boat or aircraft.

But using or wanting other people to use "Captain" as a personal title in not OK - unless you have earned the title in a disciplined force or similar with an official rank structure.
(That goes for people who use Cap,Capn, Capt etc as part of their CF username as well. Real Captains don't need to shout about it.).

In the same vein. If you have a USCG licence, you are a USCG licenced captain (small "C") not a USCG Captain!

[Nozgo]

Lesson learned. A couple of them actually.

[meatservo]

I consider any Pilot in Command operating an airplane or a helicopter burning jet fuel to be a captain. Absolutely no offense intended to avgas drivers who also qualify.

I am a captain, in aviation, on a boat, not so much. Although one day I would like to rise to the title of "Skipper!"...

I like Skipper.

BTW, welcome to the cult!



meatservo