I boat exclusively in salt water now and there are plenty of mistakes made here too. There were two brand-new millionish dollar boats at our marina this year and both ended up crashing into rocks within days of each other. Both have the latest fancy electronic/control/navigation/radar suites that cost well over $100,000. One has three outboards and was fixed within a week. The other has Volvo Penta IPS pod drives and one of the pods was torn completely from the boat. If it's not totaled, it won't likely be repaired until next season.
One thing that always astounds me is the shockingly low percentage of boaters, even those with years of experience, that don't know how to tie a basic cleat hitch. They all can secure the boat, but the majority of knots I see will jam if there's tension on the line, a proper cleat hitch will not jam. Another common problem I see is really short dock lines. Dock lines should be as long as practical to allow the boat to move up and down with wakes and waves. Going straight down from a boat cleat to a dock cleat is the worst way to tie a boat.
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