How do you ride in your dinghy

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Shrew

When we see people standing in their dinghy underway, we jokingly refer to it as a "Washingtonian Crossing", in reference to famous painting "Washington Crosses the Delaware" by Emanuel Leutze.

Called the "Birmingham Navy" in the UK, Birmingham being about as far as you can get from sea, it's a derogatory term some folk deserve.

Sadly there are some great locations in southern England but we will only anchor in on week days.

Pete

[J Clark H356]

My dinghy seat fell overboard in mid 2004 and hasn't been replaced. We sit on the tubes and I have run the outboard from both sides. I usually sit on the starboard side and run the throttle with my left hand but only because it is easier to start the outboard that way. I also bring my dinghy alongside the rear swim platform to starboard and it is where I need to be to cast off my lines and tie back up when returning. I sit far enough up so the motor tiller is not an issue.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Called the "Birmingham Navy" in the UK, Birmingham being about as far as you can get from sea, it's a derogatory term some folk deserve.

Sadly there are some great locations in southern England but we will only anchor in on week days.

Pete

Likely why I ride standing up..
I'm a Coventry kid..

Edit.. Don't see folks riding standing up in the UK much.. more a Caribe thing to my mind.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

We mostly sit on the tubes unless it is very rough and then my wife sits forward and I sit as close to center as possible. I do alternate sides depending on what I want to watch as we move. We always sit while going fast / on plane.

As for standing - I think it has its place. A couple of days ago we took a trip up Petersburg Creek - a tidal creek that gets very shallow and the channel moves side to side pretty often. We were going very slow and I was standing to get a better view of the bottom so we could easily move to the deepest part of the channel.

We had great visibility over the flats and no other boats were around.

[Lionelsole]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I sit on the port tube so that I look to starboard... the direction from which standon boats will approach. I'm right handed so of course I control with my right hand. I sit forward enough that I have full swing of the tiller either way. Seems natural to me,and about half of the folks we know in the cruising fleet do the same.

Jim

Me too.
The other ‘unmanly’ thing I do is to always make sure I have the kill cord attached before starting the engine. If you, like me, had seen someone being chased by their circling boat after being knocked out of it by someone else’s wake you would probably do the same.

[Sailing Drummer]

Most of the cruisers I've seen standing rarely look behind them - I've watched and wondered! And also because there is no way we would have been able to remain standing - getting thrown down and hurt or overboard. That's why I mentioned the caution. As for using my right hand - I have sat on the starboard side using my left occasionally. It's very uncomfortable to me. And it's also not natural to me. If I had been on the starboard side there would have been no way I could have reacted in time. I'm right handed and my right hand has much quicker reflexes than my left. I didn't have time to think, only to react. However, there are times when I do that if I need to be on that side for docking. But to use my left hand I have to lean quite far if I want to turn to starboard. The motor is a Honda and the tiller does not come straight forward, it is pointed slightly to port. I sit far enough forward so it is easily swung to either side.

Larry

[contrail]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

Regardless of which dinghy - the Porta bote or the Walker Bay Genesis - we sit on the seats.

I always use my left hand on the tiller. I can sit centered on the seat and have full control. It's also very counter intuitive to me to have going faster by pushing my hand in a rotation forward rather than the typical motorcycle grip which has the hand rotating toward you to accelerate.

I thought I was the only person to sit on the seat. Keeps my butt way dryer than sitting on a tube!

[Simi 60]

I'm guessing its OK to stand up if you aren't
1) surrounded by idiots in other boats
And
2) have a decent dinghy

Given the right conditions its good enough for the pro fisherman in these parts to stand , so good enough for me

[zeehag]

i row. big white rowboat.

[Bulawayo]

Interesting, Pete.
Whilst in the military (Army) I did a boat handling course. We were instructed to sit on the tube with the gear lever closest.
Normally meaning I sit on the starboard tube and reach across the motor width to the tiller, with my left hand - and I am right handed. I have carried on with this arrangement ever since and it is second nature.
Yes, I do try and remember to look behind when I am pottering along - but not so much when the 25hp is on song.

Originally Posted by Pete7

So if the tiller is on the engine port side, then sitting on the starboard tube allows an extra degree of steerage before the tiller hits the knee cap. of course this is favoured by left handed people, but I a sure folk could get used to it in time given the sacrifices left handers have had to make

Back to the original subject, this could have been a serious accident. Sadly similar instances are played out the world over by people who either don't realise or worse don't care. Antisocial behaviour often going hand in hand with sunny weather and alcohol.

Pete

[Greg Mason]

I have ever only sat on the starboard tube steering with my left hand. This is the position the engine is started with, pulling with your right hand, if you have a manual start. I have never assumed that an oncoming vessel will approach from any standard angle. I have never stood, under any circumstance, in a dinghy under power.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I sit on the port tube so that I look to starboard... the direction from which standon boats will approach. I'm right handed so of course I control with my right hand. I sit forward enough that I have full swing of the tiller either way. Seems natural to me,and about half of the folks we know in the cruising fleet do the same.

Jim

Ditto, and for all the same reasons.

But you can NOT keep a good 360 watch while operating a tiller-steered outboard powered dinghy alone. I don't know any solution to that.

[Jim Cate]

I've never seen someone run an outboard with their right hand on the tiller. And I'm surprised it's done. But, well, whatever works for you.

In the early days of outboards, they were mainly used for fishing. The idea was that most people being right handed, the right hand is kept free for a fishing rod while trolling. Most people can only cast with their dominant hand. The tiller being on the left side of the motor allows easy control with the left hand while sitting more or less centered on the rear bench, for the many boats where you sit on a bench.

At least that's the tradition I was brought up in. This line of reasoning has caused me to realize that me and all of my family have been on the water and using outboards as long as they've been readily available, so for better or for worse I've been enculturated from an early age.

I guess that I have been culturally deprived and mis-educated, but this lack is partly compensated by having the privilege of seeing a whole lot of folks who drive their inflatable dinghies the same way that I do. I've never fished with a rod from any of our dinghies, so no worries about casting with my off hand.

On occasion I have driven from the starboard tube and steered with my left hand. The steering goes ok, for back in my dinghy sailing days I had to steer from either side of the boat... but I had a problem with reliably operating the throttle with my left... some form of dyslexia I guess,but sometimes got the rotation backwards with unpleasant results!

And I will admit to sometimes standing under way, usually for better viz, sometimes to try to stay dryer. Do realize that these activities are in a 3.5 meter RiB, one that is quite stable, and so far it has been successful.

How successful you might ask? Well, I had my first powered inflatable in 1983, and we've been full time cruisers since 1986, mostly at anchor, so I've done one hell of a lot of dinghy driving. This does not make my practices better than yours, but it does suggest that they may be reasonable and tolerably safe.

And finally, for you who say that you've NEVER seen anyone driving from the port side... well, open your eyes, mates! I see lots of dinghy drivers and without a proper counting can't say exactly the proportion who drive from port, but it approaches 50% in my estimation.

There ain't a right and wrong to this decision... doin' what feels right to the individual driver seems a reasonable approach to me.

Jim

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Jason Flare

I have always been a “North up” kind of person having studied maps and the globe from an early age. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized that the perspective of that painting is facing south.

Facing East? But it's late afternoon, so why is the bright sky behind them

[Woodland Hills]

How do I ride in my dinghy?

Tenderly......