How do you ride in your dinghy

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Too true Boatie and guilty as charged of voicing my preference.

But are you sure you've seen every method? [emoji4]

https://youtu.be/QIYfN62NpGA

LMAO.. Does that not come under the heading..
How Do You Launch Your Dinghy..

[KD8NPB]

I prefer to sit on the floor near the stern. In rough conditions, I push with my feet against the opposite tube, to brace my back against the other tube, so I'm not bouncing around. I also usually put a Type IV PFD under my butt too on hard floor models. On air floor models, I don't.

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Too true Boatie and guilty as charged of voicing my preference.

But are you sure you've seen every method? [emoji4]

https://youtu.be/QIYfN62NpGA

There's something you don't see every day!

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

There's something you don't see every day!

I have a stearable front wheel on my dingy and often ride it down boat ramps with the same result as shown in the video. I am curious as to how they talked the owner of the car under the dingy into that stunt?

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I have a stearable front wheel on my dingy and often ride it down boat ramps with the same result as shown in the video. I am curious as to how they talked the owner of the car under the dingy into that stunt?

Looking at the car, I’d say it’s an orphan

[ArmyDaveNY]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I have a stearable front wheel on my dingy and often ride it down boat ramps with the same result as shown in the video. I am curious as to how they talked the owner of the car under the dingy into that stunt?

My guess is that it was not a fully serviceable car. Perhaps it was just for bombing around on a farm or perhaps it was going to a salvage yard. I was glad to see that they pulled it out of the water when they were done.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by waterman46

A good and true answer. Also:

Inflateables have made people insensitive to any need for weight distribution in small boats. Before inflatables came along and all outboards were used on small hardshell boats, it was important to keep your weight in the center of the boat, especially if you were alone. If you want your weight to be in the middle of a boat, you can't do that by steering with your right hand.

At speed I always sit on the floor of my RIB, on a cushion when solo. So I have to steer with my left hand. Could not be done with right hand.

Most surfers and skateboarders are "regular foot" not "goofy foot". Leading the forward motion with the right side of body and steering with left side is more natural, maybe that's why outboards were set up that way in the beginning.

You got it wrong, bro. Goofy foot is when you lead with right foot, foot, steer with left. Most surfers are regular foot, leading with left ans steering with right. Right side of body has the dominance for control in right handed people. So steering control on the board, which comes from the trailing foot, is usually the right foot.

[BlackHeron]

We have a 3-seats in our 10' Porta Bote. The person driving sits on the rear thwart and the other (usually it is just us two) sits either on the front thwart if it is calm for best trim, or sits back in the center to keep totally dry if it is sloppy and spray is jumping around.

I prefer to sit in the middle of the rear thwart seat and use my right hand on the motor. The tiny 2hp motor is so narrow that the tiller is only 2-3 inches off center to port. There is plenty room to swing the motor 360 degrees without hardly rocking on my arsecheeks.

The bote is quite commodious, stable and one can sit just about anywhere on the rear seat and reach the tiller on the motor without any gymnastics. The 2hp motor pushes it at 4 knots according to Navionics on my phone

We always wear our PFDs because you don't get to choose when the idiot in the fast-moving motorboat runs you right TF over. Folks laugh sometimes but I don't care about peer pressure. Others can do what they want, including standing up in their dinghy like some sort of dillhole. That is really not my business.

[mikedefieslife]

I previously posted in this thread about sitting on the left, and steering with the right hand. I'm left handed, but with my Mercury 2.5, that was the most natural way.

I now have a Yamaha 6hp and sitting on the right and steering with the left is the only way to operate that engine.

As for skating/surfing, I have right foot forward on skateboards and scooters, and left foot forward on surfboards. I'm right footed when it comes to football/soccer.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

I previously posted in this thread about sitting on the left, and steering with the right hand. I'm left handed, but with my Mercury 2.5, that was the most natural way.

I now have a Yamaha 6hp and sitting on the right and steering with the left is the only way to operate that engine.

As for skating/surfing, I have right foot forward on skateboards and scooters, and left foot forward on surfboards. I'm right footed when it comes to football/soccer.

You are just ambidextrous. Not many people can switch between goofy and regular. And I don’t need the motor. That’s pretty uncommon to ride different footed for different types of boards. Pretty interesting.

[Jubilee39]

I was told by another cruiser that in California it is unlawful to sit on the tubes of an inflatable. Does anyone know if this is the case?

[flyingfin]

Always with the kill switch strap around my wrist!

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by Jubilee39

I was told by another cruiser that in California it is unlawful to sit on the tubes of an inflatable. Does anyone know if this is the case?

If so, that would very seriously limit the inflatable market. I've noted in our long/varied travels that most inflatables have either no means for any, or merely a single, midship or further forward seat location.

It makes dinghy butt a norm rather than an exception other than in perfectly flat water.

All that said, our inflatable (we also have a PB, as seen in earlier comments) has two seats, the aft of which is perfect for reaching the engine tiller with the left hand. That means that the typical loading has nobody on a tube; only when VERY fully loaded (like 3 on the forward seat, two on the rear, or two and two plus a bow rider) will anyone ever sit on the tubes.

So, for us, it's nearly a certainty that whichever boat you're in, you'll be on a seat.

[Pete17C]

Originally Posted by waterman46

A good and true answer. Also:

Inflateables have made people insensitive to any need for weight distribution in small boats. Before inflatables came along and all outboards were used on small hardshell boats, it was important to keep your weight in the center of the boat, especially if you were alone. If you want your weight to be in the middle of a boat, you can't do that by steering with your right hand.

At speed I always sit on the floor of my RIB, on a cushion when solo. So I have to steer with my left hand. Could not be done with right hand.

Most surfers and skateboarders are "regular foot" not "goofy foot". Leading the forward motion with the right side of body and steering with left side is more natural, maybe that's why outboards were set up that way in the beginning.

Going 'goofy' means riding with your dominate foot forward (on a skateboard your normal push foot) instead of aft. So this will vary depending on your dominate foot.

[mikedefieslife]

I further update. I recently posted that with the Yamaha 6hp, sitting starboard was the only real way to operate. Cue me having a crew member recently that did all the dinghy driving. She only ever operated from the Port side. Just goes to show, any way is good. And no matter what way you do it, in any tiny ripple or waves when planing you'll be bouncing around violently. And in any little bit of wind, unless you have super high sides (my tubes are 42cm) you will get very wet as the waves slap against the sides/bottom of the dinghy and the wind blows the spray into you.