That was close...

I rode along as a training captain today.  Our youngest captain is about ready to be turned loose... I told him, "The boat is yours today.  I'm hands off unless you have a question."

We prepped the boat, and were setting up things at the helm when I said to him, "What's your plan on heading out?"

"Same as always."

"Look behind you..."

Yeah, we need to fit a 42' boat between those two big expensive boats.  I asked, "You good with backing between those?"

He asked, "Do you want to do it?"

"No, I want you to do it, as long as you are good with it."

He put our boat through there like an old pro!  A few feet to spare on either side.

With a decent report on the whales, we headed south.  I asked what his plan was as we approached.  We have to fit in with other boats, not get too close, not be too far away, and make sure that our guests get the best view possible, while following all the regulations.

His plan was good; he put the boat right where it needed to be.  We were getting a good viewing, but the whales were spending more time on dives than usual.  We have to maintain a distance of at least 200 yards laterally... right on the money (we use rangefinders at the helm).  We were viewing 3 whales; they were moving from north to south, we were west of them.  They had been down a while, when one came up a bit south of us... and two came up about 50 yards from our bow, heading right for us!  Too close for us to start up and back off.

"Should I back off?"

"Nope.  No props spinning within 100 yards.  Leave the motor off, and we'll take our lumps," I said.  That is proper procedure.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was right behind us.  When the whales passed, WDFW started moving towards us.

"I've got this.  You didn't do anything wrong.  Let me do the talking."

They came alongside and asked to board... "Welcome aboard," I said.  The officer had a smile on his face.  I could see that he was aware we knew what we were doing.

"A bit close there, huh?" he said.

"Yes, I'm sure you saw that they changed directions.  We were following proper procedure."

He asked, "Can we go to your helm?"

"Right up these steps."

Our young captain was sitting at the helm.  I said, "I'm Jim.  I'm the master today.  This is _______, he is also a master and is training.  It's good for him to see the proper way to handle this situation."

"Yeah, you guys are fine.  Lots of boats here, so I'm calling this a courtesy visit.  Any reason you didn't back away when everyone else did?"

"Yes, sir.  Less than 100 yards, no props spinning.  We weren't going to do something wrong just because the others did.  _____ here was at the helm, but that call was mine.  I assume we have no issue here?"

"No.  Good to see that you two have it down.  I see you out here all the time."

"Yep," I said, "we're the good guys.  We play by the rules."

He thanked us for our time and I walked him back to his boat.  Then, took a moment to explain to our guests that we are not in any kind of trouble.

We have a saying for that: "Getting mugged."  They could have been tough about this, but they could see, and have seen, that this was beyond typical behavior.  My young captain friend breathed a sigh of relief, but was concerned that the boss would be upset with him.  "My decision.  He'll know we did the right thing."

I had to chuckle when we went back to whale watching: all the boats were about 400 yards away from the whales.  ;-)

I visited with the boss when we got back.  "It happens.  We try not to let it happen, but you handled it right." 

Good training.