To the question in the title, I, Rikutsu Konetaro, would like to answer with confidence:
“Yes, absolutely.”
As always, please read on with the understanding that everything written on this page is merely my personal opinion, based on my limited knowledge and my own arbitrary judgments and biases.
There are several points to keep in mind when teaching yourself how to handle and operate a motorboat. Oh, and of course, I assume that you have already obtained the necessary license or intend to do so.
- Have the imagination and risk-management skills appropriate to your age.
- Be able to respect other people.
- Be able, at least initially, to accept unnecessary advice from more experienced people with a smile.
- Have common-sense financial judgment.
- Be able to ask younger but more experienced people questions politely.
- Be eager to acquire knowledge.
- Be willing to acknowledge and correct your own weaknesses and shortcomings.
- Be accustomed to gathering information online and distinguishing between reliable and unreliable information.
- Be good at mental rehearsal.
- Be enthusiastic about mastering departure, docking, and ropework.
- Understand that the sea belongs to everyone while respecting existing fishing rights.
- Have a boat equipped with a bow thruster and GPS.
- Have access to a marina berth.
- If possible, purchasing the boat through the same marina where it will be berthed tends to make everything go more smoothly.
- A powerboat should preferably have two or more engines.
- Do not operate the boat or fish with a lit cigarette in your mouth. This is not a matter of manners, but of risk management. Boats burn very well.
- Never neglect sufficient research and practice when planning an adventure.
Well, that is about it.
If you follow these points and act boldly on the basis of a humble and precise plan, I think boating life will be enjoyable.
After all, you can travel to remote islands.
In fact, during the winter holiday period from late 2022 to early 2023, only six weeks after taking delivery of my own boat, I made two solo round trips from Tokyo Bay to Habu Port on Izu Oshima, the largest of the Izu Islands—a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo that is administratively part of Tokyo Metropolis.
For details, click here and here.
There were only two days between the two round trips.
It was a little scary, but it was great fun.
As I explained on another page, I obtained my First-Class Small Vessel Operator’s License more than ten years ago.
After the practical training for that license, I did not operate a boat even once until I took the helm of my own boat.
Then, in November 2022, about a year after ordering it, I finally took delivery of the boat I had long wanted, measuring more than 28 feet.
I had started straight away with a 30-foot-class boat.
A few days after delivery, I was able to leave and return to the berth alone for the first time.
I practiced departure, docking, and mooring again and again.
At first, marina staff would run to the pontoon to take my lines. As I gradually became accustomed to handling the boat, however, they began to let me do everything by myself.
It is entirely possible for a middle-aged or older skipper to operate a 30-foot-class boat alone with a modest but serious amount of effort.
This is thanks to modern equipment, including the bow thruster.
I hope that more middle-aged and older people will take full advantage of the ease offered by modern boats and enjoy the sea.
