Nobody sees more boating lessons unfold in real time than the people standing on the dock when you pull in which is why we're so excited to share this story from the crew over at Hawks Cay Marina. Their dockmaster, Chris Groom, spent 25 years in the Coast Guard before taking over one of the busiest transient docks in the Florida Keys, and he's watched the same handful of boater mistakes play out across thousands of arrivals. Here's what he wishes every boater knew before pulling in.
Many of us learn the water one mistake at a time. A close call. A line that lets go at the wrong moment. A forecast we should have read twice. You collect those lessons over the years, and if you are lucky, none of them cost you much.
Then there are people who have spent a lifetime watching all of it happen. They have seen the same handful of mistakes play out across decades and thousands of boats, and they can tell you exactly where the trouble tends to start. Chris Groom is one of those people. So when he talks about what trips boaters up, it is worth pulling up a chair.
Groom grew up in Seattle, where the water was never far. Some of his earliest memories are of outings on Lake Washington with his father, the kind of unhurried days on the water that tend to set a course for the rest of a life. They did for him.
That early start turned into 25 years in the United States Coast Guard, a career built on seamanship, judgment, and the habit of taking safety seriously when no one is watching. When he came ashore, he did not go far from the dock. He was recruited to run the marina at Hawks Cay Resort, where he now serves as dockmaster.
It is a fitting second act. The same instincts that made him good in a uniform make him good on the dock, and the boaters who tie up at Hawks Cay get the benefit of both. Talk to him for a few minutes and you will hear someone who genuinely wants you to have a good trip, which in his world starts with guests coming home safely.
“Preparation matters, good decisions matter, and getting everyone back to the dock safely matters. That's what we focus on every day at Hawks Cay Marina.”
Ask him what he sees boaters get wrong, and the list comes quickly. None of it is complicated. That is rather the point.
This one sits at the top of his list, and he does not soften it. Boating under the influence is the mistake he wants to see disappear entirely. Open water, moving vessels, and impaired judgment are a combination with no upside. If you are the one at the helm, you are the one responsible for everyone aboard. Keep a clear head until the lines are secured and the engine is off.
Before you leave the dock, someone ashore should know where you are headed and when you expect to be back. A float plan is a small habit that does an enormous amount of work if anything goes sideways. It tells search crews where to look and when to start. Groom treats it as non-negotiable, and it costs you nothing but a minute.
Having the equipment aboard is only half the job. Life jackets, flares, fire extinguishers, and signaling devices all need to actually work the day you reach for them. Groom's advice is to check them on a schedule rather than assume, because the moment you need safety gear is the worst possible moment to discover it has expired or failed.
This is the line Groom comes back to again and again. Know before you go. Conditions on the water can turn faster than they do on land, and a forecast you read the night before may not be the forecast that finds you offshore. Build the weather check into your departure routine, every single time, and be willing to let it change your plans.
The most technical item on his list is also the kind of thing that separates a seasoned hand from a weekend visitor. Groom warns against using a lock hitch when securing to a cleat. Done wrong, line handling at the dock creates risk where there should be none, whether that is a line that will not release under load or one that fails when you are counting on it. A proper cleat hitch holds when you want it to and frees when you need it to. It is worth getting right.
Run back through the list and you will notice none of it is about heroics. It is about preparation, attention, and respect for the water, the same values Groom picked up as a kid on Lake Washington and carried through a career in the Coast Guard. The boaters who get into trouble are rarely the ones who lacked skill. More often they are the ones who skipped a step.
If you find yourself in the Keys this season, Hawks Cay is worth a stop, and Groom is worth a conversation. Either way, take his advice with you the next time you leave the dock. Know before you go, and you will spend a lot more time enjoying the water than worrying about it.
If you run a marina and want to tell your story in The Running Fix, here's the page to start the process. And if you're a boater with a tale to tell from out there on the water, here's where to share it. Be the first to access boater stories like this one by subscribing to our boater newsletters, The Running Fix and Dock Talk!