From the Helm

Most owners start a log the day they go to sell. By then it's too late. Here's what to track from day one, and why it pays off at the dock.

It looks like the friendliest water in the region, and most days it is. The trouble is what eleven feet of average depth does when the wind comes up.

The boat needs to be somewhere it isn't, and you can't take it there. Here's the order it runs in when you hire a captain to move your boat.

Most captains don't wear theirs. Most First Mates should, and when they do, the crew follows within five minutes. The PFD is a leadership signal first.

A float plan isn't filed with the Coast Guard. It's the one piece of paper that brings the call in if something goes wrong on the water. Here's the First Mate's template.

There's no licensing board for delivery captains. The title isn't regulated. Here's how to sort the pros from the rest before you sign anything.

700-foot freighters, one-way commercial channels, and a current that lies to you. What the Detroit River actually asks of recreational boat owners.

That guy who drops the hook and drifts into someone's swim platform? He's not unlucky — he didn't set the anchor. Here's how to do it right.

Cold water, crowded channels, and rusty skills; a few minutes of preparation before you untie the lines makes the whole weekend better.

I served as its Commodore. An honest, insider's look at the Ford Yacht Club on Grosse Ile — its history, facilities, calendar, and what a club like it does for a boater.

The routes, the weather windows, and the harbors worth knowing.

The thirty minutes before the engine starts is where good first mates earn it.

What professional radio sounds like, and what makes you sound like an amateur.

The vocabulary every captain-first mate pair develops — eventually.

The first step in every delivery I quote, and why it's the easy one.

The delivery that doubles as the best lesson you'll ever take.

A Great Lakes captain's reference guide to America's Great Loop — the route, the segments, the Lakes leg, and what most guides leave out.

Truck or transit? The honest comparison for Great Lakes owners thinking about getting their boat to Florida for the winter — from someone who runs both.

It's the fastest, busiest stretch of water in the whole chain, and the head of the river off Port Huron is where it asks the most of you. Here's what to know before you run it.

Splash day is not the day to start thinking about splash day. Here's the two-week countdown I run with my own boat — and what to do if you find a problem at each stage.

Three different surveys, three different purposes. Most buyers find that out the hard way. Here's what each one catches — and what it won't.

What a professional yacht delivery on the Great Lakes actually looks like — credentials, insurance, and what owners get wrong.

Most boat buyers ask questions about the boat. The questions that actually matter are about the seller, the history, and the systems — and most people don't think to ask them until it's too late.

The captains who make docking look easy aren't more talented. They just do the hard part before anyone's watching.

When the captain can't run the boat, everything rides on the person beside them. Here's the protocol — before you need it.

Most owners think the insurance piece of a delivery is the captain's problem. It isn't. It's yours — and here's exactly what to do, why it matters, and how to get it right the first time.