what makes me nervous

Occasionally I am asked if I get scared out there in the middle of the ocean. I'm sure I will when I finally encounter some bad weather. But what scares me now and always is navigating the boat in and out of tight spaces with lots of other boats around (like a marina). A couple of days ago I was on Twister installing the new throttle control when the guy at the helm of a powerboat, trying to avoid bumping the dock and other boats, cranked the wheel, floored it, and slammed into a piling and another boat. Amazingly a minute or two later they found themselves in the same situation and responded in the same way and with the same result. With a lot of help they finally got the boat into the slip.

The reason they were having trouble parking (aside from lack of experience) was a strong wind perpendicular to the slip they were trying to park in. This has caused me many nervous moments parking the boat back in San Diego. Twister has a long keel, but it ends well before the bow, so that end of the boat tends to slide off when the wind is blowing on the beam (this is only an issue when the boat is not or barely moving). That power boat has very little in the way of a keel and a lot of area above water for the wind to push.