Picture this interesting situation – “This South Florida family with almost no boating experience was trusted to captain a $500,000, 37-foot boat with the Axius system.” That’s exactly what Boating World Magazine did in their September/October ’08 issue. The Rubins, Dad, Mom, and their two small daughters, occasional boat passengers, set out with Vic Spellberg, Formula’s big boat test captain and FAS3TECH driver extraordinaire, and incidentally the father of Mom Rubin.

Spellberg began by familiarizing the family with the Axius system. “The first thing you have to understand is that the joystick provides incremental thrust in whatever direction you want to go.” Dad Dan Rubin tries his hand first. Gently easing the 370 away from the seawall — the tide immediately pushes the boat backward. After some additional advice and practice, he docks the boat, slow and easy. Next, six-year old Morgan wants a turn. Having listened to instructions and watched her father, she feels sure she can do it. “Like Dad, at first she tends to be a bit abrupt, and when she turns, she lets go of the forward thrust.” “Keep it going ahead when you twist the joystick to turn,” grandfather Vic advises. She is soon in the “tricky, narrow, twisting snake of waterway, the Miami River,” then maneuvering the boat out of the canal between two narrow markers, and into Biscayne Bay.