Does anyone else let their dogs navigate?

So today we were cruising from Steinhatchee Marina at Deadman’s Bay to Pete’s Pier in Crystal River, a 95 mile cruise that should have only been 75 miles. So what happened?

We were cruising to Cedar Keys and about to cut through a somewhat shallow spot when some other boats we know noticed where we were and said that they had grounded their sailboat in this passage and the tide was going out and so we should go further outside until we got to the Seahorse Reef Light. Wow, that was going to cost us miles and at least a couple of hours.

Whose fault was this? Well I’ll tell you, it was Maggie’s fault. She has been begging for weeks to drive the boat. “I am so bored” she said. “You never let me do anything fun” she said. I said you can’t drive the boat, you have no thumbs. She huffed and said fine, at least let me navigate. Linda said let her try, what’s the worst that can happen. So I told her to study the charts and make up a course. So, she consulted the charts and plotted a course.