[soto97]

Some thoughts for the next time that you are taking a similar photo: for this photo, I would have tried moving towards the left to look down along the boat. Then, I would have turn the camera ninety degrees in order to include the mask. I might have ended up with a photo that included the ship from bow to stern and from water line to the top of the mast. Maybe some interesting lines and colors would have popped up by doing so.

Would the photo have been better than what you took? Who knows. As others of said, try taking a lot of pictures. Especially, try taking a lot of pictures from different angles and from different distances. Include the whole boat. Zoom in on a portion of the boat. Barely show the boat. I believe the old rule of thumb was one good photo out of a roll of 36; I still use the rule, even with digital.

Finally, if you are not using a polarizing filter (and it looks like you aren't) I would really try one. For the kind of day that you were shooting, a polarizing filter would have really highlighted the background clouds and maybe removed some of the glare in the image. Once I discovered polarizers, I have not gone back.