DICK's OP-ED 

It’s true of editors all over the world and it’s now I find it’s true of my friend, Eddie Bacon.  Eddie sends me an email that he’s redesigned his website.  He tells me he’s added an Op Ed page, and that lucky me should be the first one to write something for it.  He sends me a page of puffery that he says will precede my Op Ed piece. Then when he figures he’s written enough complimentary stuff to sucker me into writing something, he drops the bomb shell. Ed’s publishing his new website on Saturday. Wow, what a lot of time I have to come up with something. Ed’s email comes on Thursday and he publishes on Saturday.  That leaves --- let’s see….  Oh yeah, Friday!  Not to leave Ed in a lurch, and to miss three other deadlines I’m trying to meet by Saturday, I check back through my files to see if there’s something I wrote that would fit in an Op Ed piece. (Notice Ed even uses his own name in the title – Op ED? If I’m writing it you would think it would be Op Dick, but I digress. Oh yeah, he’s something! A few years back Bill Sisson at SOUNDINGS told me they wanted to do a piece on POWERBOATERS vs. SAIL BOATERS. Bill knew I was a die-hard powerboater and asked that I write that side of the equation. (Bill gave me 3 weeks to write it!!)  Since I’m a Powerboater and Editor Ed is a sail boater this is a perfect place to reprint my side of the argument!    

DeBartolo on Powerboating

     Ah, a sailboat. Drifting along at a leisurely pace, the

sound of water lapping at the hull. HELP!!! Get me off this

thing, and onto a powerboat!

     Hey, I have nothing against sailboats. Almost all of

them have engines anyway! Sailors don't like to mention their

sailboats are power driven a lot of the time, especially when

docking, but that's fine with me.

     I made my decision for powerboating about 30 years ago.

A friend with a sailboat said: "Dick, do you wanna go on a

day's sail? We're going up river to the George Washington

Bridge." Since we were standing at the West 79th Street Boat

Basin, and I could SEE the George Washington Bridge, I didn't

want to spend three hours bucking the tide just to see it

closer! In a powerboat, in that same amount of time, I could

get all the way up to West Point and back, some 120 miles

round trip, and see something new! Powerboating it was, and

still is!

     Being born in Brooklyn and living in Manhattan, I guess

I'm used to a fast pace, and sailing is NOT fast paced in any

way. Sailors get dressed to sail! Have you ever seen

POWERBOAT clothing at a marine store? No, but there are tons

of stuff for sailors! Sailing pants, sailing gloves, super

grip deck shoes! For me cut-offs, sneakers, a Powerboat

Magazine cap, and I'm ready! And before they even think about

letting a line go, sailors check the tides, the wind, the

weather forecast, the barometer, the charts, and a couple of

dozen nautical instruments so they can begin their nine hour,

3 mile cruise. By the time, a true sailor has let his or her

first line go, I've been to Bear Mountain and back, hosed off

the boat, and I'm making dinner.

     I particularly like outboard power. A lot of horses for

a little weight. And yes, outboard manufacturers are spending

millions to make their engines more environmentally friendly,

with incredible results, but that's a whole other article!

With outboard power, it's relatively easy to repower. If you

want a bigger engine, or a new engine, a swap can be done in

hours.

     From 30 years of boating, my experience has been that

sailboaters are much more down on powerboaters, than the

reverse. Once on a long trip (a long powerboat trip - 600

miles - not a long sail trip -- 6 miles) I stopped at a

sailing club (because it was the only marina around) to ask

if they offered overnight dockage. The dockmaster said he was

sorry, but they didn't have a single vacancy. Well, it was

already 7 pm, and there must have been some 50 or 60 empty

slips, so I assumed there was no overnight dockage available for

POWERBOATS!!!

     I do think powerboaters do more things to annoy sailors

then the other way 'round. I've never had a sailboat zoom up

behind my Proline 241 powered by a 300 hp ProMax Mercury

outboard, and jump my wake! It'd have to be a REAL WINDY DAY

for that to happen! But in general, I found the vast majority

of powerboaters to be careful, responsible, and considerate

people.

     For years I raced offshore boats and loved it. I don't

race anymore, yet the powerful sound my outboard engine

makes when running is -- and it's corny folks -- music to my

ears. On the other hand, the sound of all those lines banging

on a sail mast do nothing for me. Except when I'm trying to

sleep, and it's windy. Then they drive me crazy!

    Now I know that some of these thoughts on powerboating

may generate hostility on the part of some sailors. So part

of my deal with Bill Sisson (Editor at SOUNDINGS) was that HE would take care of

the hate mail. And, of course, they'll be much more hate mail

from sailors because they have ALL THAT TIME TO WRITE while

they're sitting there, waiting for the wind to pick up!

                       ***

And now here’s something really useful from my gadget universe.

            Anybody who docks in the Hudson River, especially below the George Washington Bridge knows that the wakes are enormous. They come from the ever increasing ferries, the tugs, the sightseeing boats, the dinner boats, the Coast Guard, even from some of their fellow boaters who don’t bother slowing down when they pass a marina. A device I discovered at the New York Boat Show eliminates the damage to the boats, the crushed fenders and the snapped lines from those wakes. It’s called PILEMATE.  

This clever device slips over the piling and it’s installed in minutes. (I know, I’m using three of them). They’re strong, lightweight, and unsinkable. PILEMATE floats up and down around the pile during tide changes or storm surges. That eliminates the guesswork of leaving slack in the lines. It also helps avoid ripped out cleats and snapped docking lines which are more expensive to replace every year. It even avoids the sad sight of seeing your new $150 inflatable buoys crushed and split because it got caught between your boat and the dock during a mega-wake. PILEMATE utilizes the strength of the piling. Tying off is accomplished by bringing your lines around the PILEMATE (and therefore around the piling). The system is as strong as your line and the piling itself. If you don’t tie to a piling there’s a dock mount version. The PILEMATE dock mounting bracket eliminates wear to the pilings and extends the life of new and existing docks and pilings. The Pilemate prevents the dock from twisting and can even help straighten the worst docks. If you pass the 79^th Street Boat Basin you can see them in action next to my houseboat and my Farallon workboat. Prices start at $550. You could save that much in broken lines, crushed fenders and damage to your boat in just one season!

Check out the video of PILEMATES in action during a storm, and get more info at www.pilemate.com.

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