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Published: Wednesday, May. 25, 2011 / Updated: Friday, Dec. 30, 2011 05:20 PM

Quiz master runs aground against longtime Wylie boating expert

There’s a price for imperfection on the water, and Bo Ibach isn’t interested in paying it. Nor seeing anyone else incur the cost, regardless of what it takes on his end.

“I’ve gotten more into this than I ever thought I would,” said the repeat Charlotte Power Squadron commander, U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain, former two-term Lake Wylie Marine commissioner and one-man reference desk for Lake Wylie information.

I’m squaring off with the answer key when I coax Ibach into a boating safety contest. He’s Ken Jennings meets Capt. Ahab. Those sharks from the “Jaws” movies had a better chance of winning. I could’ve scoured boating manuals. I didn’t. Not because I want to lose, but because that’s how most folks take to boating on Wylie.

“It’s crazy,” said Bonnie Hart, lakefront resident who recently completed her second safety class. “The predominance of people out there haven’t had a course, don’t know what the rules are, if there are any.”

Hart wouldn’t let her children, ages 12 and 16, on the water without a safety course. Four years ago, she sat in a packed Lighthouse Marine Service classroom. Earlier this month, she returned with a group of four – bringing total enrollment up to five. Ibach isn’t surprised by the lack of students.

“None of us are getting what we should get,” he said of safety groups, “and it’s a shame.”

Ibach took his first boating class in 1996. Almost 100 people sat through two hours a week for seven weeks, he said. Now, classes last a day, two tops. Ibach’s most recent class drew six students. It’s indifference this area, particularly, can’t afford.

Lake Wylie’s more confusing than the middle school social scene. Two states, three counties and enough wildlife agency monikers to capsize a Scrabble board. Buster Boyd Bridge runs north into South Carolina and south into North Carolina.

“At one point, I thought I was still in North Carolina,” said Geoff Cantrell with North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, of his most recent venture on Wylie, “but actually I was in South Carolina waters.”

Public information is Cantrell’s livelihood, and even he calls Wylie a puzzle. Ibach earns no paycheck for his mastery. More than 40 years in the yarn business – 22 working for his dad, Ibach still owns part of a Virginia mill – pay his bills. Boating remains a pastime.

“I’m a consummate volunteer,” Ibach said. “I can’t stand not to do all sorts of things.”

That’s where I hook him. We’ll have three rounds, 50 questions straight from America’s Boating Course. I’m honest. Were there a multiple choice hall of fame, schoolchildren would visit my bronze likeness. I exempted two college Spanish levels almost exclusively on placement test guesswork – no fue un buen idea. Ibach isn’t exactly quaking in his deck shoes.

Four questions in, we’re knotted at two. I won’t say I knew registration number sticker height requirements or how to choose a life jacket, but the Scantron doesn’t lie. It’s my next three questions that broadside me like an offshore squall. Titanic didn’t go down as fast. Ibach lands his, and a 5-2 lead after one round.

Next comes the lightning round, admittedly a terrible name for a boating safety competition. First with the answer wins. Ibach toys with me, letting me answer first more often than not. Still I only score 3 of 10. He rakes in the rest.

Honestly, I’m scaring myself a little. The issue isn’t how many I’m missing. It’s that my errant answers literally could kill me. Anchoring from the stern – bad idea. I just sank my own battleship. Red buoys on my port side heading into harbor? I think I just crashed into a lighthouse.

And if I’m boating on your starboard side, don’t signal with one short horn blast. We will collide. Ibach makes a certain sound with each misguided answer, like he expected more from me. Yet he follows every one with a story, a mnemonic device. He’s clearly more teacher than grader. In a sea of red ink, I’m beginning to retain the material.

“He won’t shut up about it,” said past squadron Cmdr. Brevard Myers, who co-teaches with Ibach. “He gives you more information than is in the class.”

There’s a reason. He’s seen near misses. The brother whose trailered boat dropped to the highway mid-transport. The inattentive boater who filled up his holding tank instead of the gas tank, swamping the vessel beyond repair.

“The boat was totaled,” Ibach said. “He was lucky he didn’t blow it up.”

And nobody knows better than Ibach how cruel the water can be. It took he and wife Donna 15 years before they’d return to the family place on Wylie after losing a 2-year-old son to the end of a boat dock in 1981. Statistics – the reason he lobbied for a recent North Carolina requirement to include boater education for all ages, the constant promotion of classes – are more than just numbers.

In the past decade North Carolina averaged more than 177 boating accidents and 18 fatalities annually. Last year South Carolina reported 24 boating fatalities, more than double the 2009 total. Current records date back to 1999. Since, 2010 was the third deadliest year.

Since 1975, the total number of registered boats in North Carolina is up 198 percent. From 1975 to 1996, the state averaged almost 63,000 safe boating students each year. The average for 1997-2008 was 4,100.

“The majority of boaters on the water today have never taken a boater safety education class,” said Ted Sensenbrenner, assistant director of boating safety for BoatUS. “Roughly 85 percent of people involved in a boating accident have never taken a course.”

No mnemonics needed to steer that sentiment home. As I complete the 30-question written round, missing 10 more, I’m reminded that Ibach isn’t just looking out for others’ safety, but his own. What’s proper marine communication if oncoming boaters don’t recognize it? Or keeping course in the right-of-way when others won’t alter theirs?

There’s a reason Ibach stopped failing students years ago. Yes, he’s even seen worse performances than mine. But flunking volunteer students does nobody any good. Instead, Ibach sits down and reviews the material again. They’re going to learn the concepts, and he just can’t stand not to be part of it.

“I’d rather make sure they pass.”

Competition: Bo Ibach, Commander of Charlotte Power Squadron, U.S. Coast Guard licensed Captain, former two-term Lake Wylie Marine Commissioner and expert on boating safety

Contest: A 50-question quiz taken straight from America’s Boating Course, a safe boating class offered through local and national Power Squadron units.

Score: Ibach won the first round 5-2, then the second round 7-3. The written round also went to Ibach, 30-20. Final score: Ibach 42, Marks 25.

Overall Record: Lake Wylie Pilot local talent 106.07, Marks 34

On Your Marks is a monthly column where Lake Wylie Pilot reporter John Marks takes on competition from the greater Lake Wylie area, challenging locals in their field of expertise and profiling what makes them special. Check out past On Your Marks columns at lakewyliepilot.com. Look for “On Your Marks” under the “Home” tab. For ideas about who you think Marks should challenge next, e-mail jmarks@lakewyliepilot.com.