The Boating Forum - Paper captains. ughhh

Thank you to my engine surveyor today for keeping me from punching Captain Numskull. I was ready to blast this tool and toss him overboard and my friend talked me down.. Good to have friends.
Hard day, POS boat. Captain was a douche bag. I did not go to jail and I got paid. I guess it wasn't so bad after all.

I know its obtuse and confusing. I am just venting. Major communication problem today. Paper Capt. got an F on his report card, refused to return to the yard even though the boat was taking on water and the batteries were flat and charger inop then stranded me and the engine guy on the other side of town to call a cab back to the yard. Never mentioned sea trials were a one way trip, already knew everything we warned him about. Knew everything, did nothing.. Then asked what my problem was. Not in 30 years have I met anyone in this industry with his attitude. There was allot more too, just tired of typing.
I wouldn't let this guy drive a rubber dinghy in my swimming pool.

You should be proud of me. Not long ago I would have blasted him and turned the boat around. The next guy he tangles with just might.

Oh and Capt. Numskull, if you see this and know its you? You have some real soul searching to do buddy.

Tell us how you really feel.....

Soooooo......they say any day on the boat is better then a day working, ooops you were working, sounds like a used douche bag

Part of working with the general public, you need thick skin and good people skills.

Please excuse my ignorance. What is a "paper captain"?

Please excuse my ignorance. What is a "paper captain"?

I would like to know what this means as well... Sorry about the crappy day but be proud you only had to pay cab fare and not bail:trout:

Paper Captain = Someone licensed by USCG but with no "real amount of time or experience" on the water.

Paper Captain = Someone licensed by USCG but with no "real amount of time or experience" on the water.

50 years they only know how to experience Bad experiences. I call them captain glitters, They almost all dress the best tho, like a well paid captain does. Baitkiller I feel for your vent. I have tried to help captains like that out, that got in bad situations?? They are beyond help. Now with online captains courses and testing? No one is there to maybe try to correct these clowns.

you can't teach common sense, but you could try to test for it with hands on exams.

Working on the water is always a treat... I'm lucky enough that the vast, vast majority of my clients are the nicest folks around. Once or twice over the years I've run into folks that take more patience than I have in store (but I put up with them anyhow). Those few will never find me available again - even if I was starving....

Like the old priest is supposed to have said about difficult parishioners... "Everyone makes my day, some by their coming - other by their going".

I'm in the process of getting my OUPV license and have certainly learned a few things in the few days I have been in classes...

The US is under pressure from the Int'l community to tighten up its licensing procedures. They want real world experience aboard vessels over 100 tons...not just some made up log you tell the CG about..

\As far as 6 pac licenses, you learn the very basics....actually many things I have learned over the 40+ years I have been on the water. I never wanted to call myself "Capt." until I felt I was licensed and qualified...

Sorry to hear about your day...hopefully the bad ones are few and far between...

You would think the hours req would weed out the paper captains. you can't teach common sense, but you could try to test for it with hands on exams.
. Hours required will weed out paper captains is No fgood . Some will never learn common sense or want to do good, instead of their way. I always thought a hands on test should be the only way. Why should I have to learn so much useless knowledge that might be a test question when local experience and knowledge is so valuable. My father when he was alive ran a party boat out of ware town NJ to the barnegatt ridge all the time. He built benches in the cockpit so he could have almost 10 paying people on a 40 ft wooden full keel boat with a single engine packard straight 8. I still think about that boat now as slow as it was and as embarrassed as I was when all my friends fathers had much after and newer boats. Oh and the best is My father never had a captains license. Never lost any one either. He was always careful. I do not think he could even swim? he had a real paying and pension rewarding job also but loved supplementing his income with fishing. I never saw him in the water any way? He could dock that single engine boat better then guys today with 2 motors and a thruster. I have passed the captains test at a for real class and did learn a lot that I never knew and is of use. But I do not have a current CG license. Don't need one or want one now at my age. I am an old fart almost. will be 60 next birthday. I fish now from the cockpit instead of the wheel. its more fun then I ever thought it would be.

So, were you surveying the boat for a prospective buyer? Easy to get even...write up a fair and accurate survey, and the prospective buyer will run screaming for the hills. Then the (*) captain will be stuck with his lemon of a boat.
I've dealt with his ilk before...there once was a guy at my marina who wore epaulettes(a la Tred style)on his Columbia shirts while strutting around the docks...a real tool. Watched him plow a furrow in the pluff mud one day when he tried to run the marina inlet during a low Spring tide...then wondered why his wheels needed tuning shortly afterward.

Bought a boat years ago and had the local knowledge "captain" (6-pack licensed) go with me on the sea trial. He ran a private launch service for the marina and surrounding residents in the moooring field.

Very tight ATONS in this harbor, so I assumed that I would let him get us "out'" before I took over.

We weren't even out of the marina/slips, when he backed into a piling (hit one of the OB, not the hull), panic ensued and he screamed like a little girl "can you take over?"

Geeeez.......so when you said "paper captain".....I knew exactly what you meant (although never heard it put that way)

Just my .02

Paper Captain = Someone licensed by USCG but with no "real amount of time or experience" on the water.

That's what I though but I wasn't sure.

Kind of like most of the drivers on the road in SE Florida. They can't drive a car worth a shit but somehow they passed a driving test and got a license.