The next day, back on the Vernon River, things were very much different. The winds were near calm and the seas were effortless. Make sure your boat is equipped with a VHF radio, just like doing an engine check every 30 minutes- push the weather button on the radio and get a weather update including forecast and present conditions. No matter what area you take the boat, based on your local position at the time, the weather forecast and conditions is given for you in real time. It is not a bad idea to keep a back up VHF radio on board at all times, Hopefully you will use your VHF radio and check your weather every 30 minutes.
Weather changes very fast.
Best wishes for safe and fun boating putting your boating education to use. Part of getting my boat ready for a major cruise was to change oil, filters etc. Pretty simple, just get the bucket, place it in the bilge and turn the automatic pump on and watch the oil drain. I did not know that you are not supposed to pump cold oil through this kind of pump. The electric motor overheated, fried the related electrical wires into flames and deadly smoke.