08/17/2026
WHO’S YOUR SECOND CAPTAIN?
There should never be only one person on the boat who knows how to operate it.
We recently hosted a class that teinforced that lesson for us.
During an all-day training session, one person wanted to stay at the helm and handle everything himself. His wife and kids were along for the day, we taught them knot tying, fendor management, and how to be a bow/stern watch, but he wanted to focus on learning the helm and didn’t really want to give up the wheel.
On the way back to the marina, his wife could see the fatigue setting in and offered to take over. His response? “No, I’m good.”
About an hour later, we arrived back at the dock—and now he was too tired to dock the boat, we encouraged him to take the boat as far as he could. Some of the best lessons are unspoken.
That became one of their most important lessons of the entire day: Share the load.
Your spouse, partner, older kids, or regular crew shouldn’t just be passengers. At least one other person should know how to safely operate the boat, take the helm, communicate with the crew, and ideally get the boat back to the dock.
It’s not about having two captains fighting over the wheel. It’s about developing a capable 1st Mate and 2nd Mate who can step in when needed.
Fatigue happens. People get sick. Conditions change. Sometimes the captain simply needs a break.
A second set of trained hands isn’t just convenient—it makes the entire crew stronger.
Whitman Marine Training can train more than just the boat owner. Bring your spouse, partner, or regular crew into the training and let’s make sure someone else aboard knows what to do.
We don’t just train the Captain. We Train the entire crew.
Building Confident Captains—and capable crews.
*pic is not from the class in question but from a class where both crew members voluntarily shared helm time.
