EDITOR'S NOTE: This blog is no longer active.

A funny thing happened on the way to the shipyard causing me to ask, What has happened to honor and courtesy? Is everyone just in too much of a hurry to be polite? Or is everyone so pushed by their cell phones and freeway traffic that they just have to cut in front of every line? 

It is time for winter lay-up, when we might forget to go down to check the boat at the moorage for a month or so, which also makes it easier to steal boats during the off season. The amazing theft of the Commodore’s 45 ft yacht, during broad daylight, from a local yacht club a couple of years ago illustrates how bold some thieves will be. So it is a wonder why we boaters don’t make our yachts more difficult to steal?

Final determination is up to the National Transportation Safety Board, but after reviewing Coast Guard reports and radio records about the accident that spilled 58,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil into San Francisco Bay last Wednesday morning, it appears that the collision was entirely due to pilot error. Also, the slow clean-up response appears to have been caused by the pilot’s inattention to important details after the collision took place.

Have you tried sleeping aboard your boat at the marina when the wind is blowing and every sailboat halyard in the marina is banging against the mast? Slap, Slap, Slap … This constant repetitive noise is like someone continuously knocking on your door. Of course, the skipper of the offending boat probably has no idea it is even happening.

Once I overheard a novice boater saying, “Wow, listen to the clanging of the all the sailboats in the wind, isn’t it romantic?” So, maybe it is a matter of perspective, or rather ignorance of the harm that may be caused.

Living near the Golden Gate bar -- one of the most dangerous pieces of water in the world -- and being a Coast Guard volunteer, as well as a local charter skipper, I am privy to the details of the deaths at sea which occur every year within sight of San Francisco. Most of these deaths happen because experienced sailors visiting the area do not take the time to carefully study the local conditions before trying to sail here.

Motor into any marina, listen to the talk on any dock, and it seems like everyone has an opinion about whether recreational boaters should be licensed. While you might say “drivers need licenses, why not boaters,” there are passionate supporters on both sides of the issue. For the most part, it’s a debate that pits general safety against the creation of a law that, in my opinion, would hinder more than help by placing a heavy burden on many boaters.

I think there’s a better way.

It is surprising how many people do not know the difference between high and low tide, not to mention ebb and flow. It is a commonly held belief that word ebb is synonymous with low tide and flood is synonymous with high tide. Not so.

All boat partnerships are more like dysfunctional families or bad marriages. Like Carrie on "Sex and the City," I often bump into juicy subjects for a column just being on the waterfront.

Disinformation seems to have cachet, especially in the pub after the cruise. But, isn't it amazing the amount of generally believed disinformation that abounds on the waterfront? In the last few years there seems to be a large increase in the number of self-minted experts passing rumors off as truth, at every yacht club, ship’s chandlery or waterfront dive.