Boating at a bargain: classes starting soon around region
Sep 16 2009 in Currents by Deborah Bach
With the summer cruising season winding down, it’s a good time to brush up on boating skills—and you don’t have to break the bank to do it.
Classes for both new and experienced boaters are starting up at locations around Puget Sound, and at least two organizations offer options to build and hone boating skills for very little money.
United States Power Squadrons and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary both offer a variety of boating education classes ranging from free evening seminars to whole-day or multi-week courses for around $50 or less. Classes starting over the next few weeks cover basic boating skills as well as navigation, seamanship, advanced piloting and weather.
The organizations use volunteer instructors and donated space to keep costs down, and course fees typically just cover class materials and books. For the cost of a happy hour outing, students can get the knowledge needed to start boating or sharpen their skills in specific areas.
“By and large, it’s by far the best bargain in town,” said Bill Ray, educational officer for the Seattle Sail and Power Squadron.
Squadron instructors are all boaters with experience in the geographic areas where they teach, Ray said—an important consideration, given the vast difference in tides, weather, currents and other marine characteristics in various parts of the country.
“If you get an instructor down in Florida, they know something about hurricanes,” he said. “I know something about boating around here because I’ve been boating here for a long time. Each area is different.”
Both organizations offer basic boating courses aimed at qualifying students for a Washington state boater education card, required by January 2014 or earlier for everyone operating a sailboat or powerboat with a 15 or more horsepower engine (the requirement is being phased in according to age; specifics are available here).
“The idea is to introduce people to the fact that a boat is not a car. That’s the best way of saying it,” Ray said. “Because it’s not a car, there’s a set of legal requirements about PFDs and fire extinguishers and things like that that we cover in the class.”
The basic boating courses are built around national standards, though content and format differ slightly between the two organizations. The USPS course is offered in a one-day seminar or a six-week course, while the Coast Guard Auxiliary offers a one-day seminar, an eight-week course or a 13-week course that tacks on additional lessons in topics such as navigation and safety.
The basic courses are available to the public, including families with children. Membership is required by both organizations to take additional classes and is offered at a low cost, but that’s where the similarities end.
Upper level Coast Guard Auxiliary classes are geared toward training members to assist the Coast Guard with tasks such as vessel inspections and patrols. “These classes are all about safety,” said Dave Martens, public affairs officer for the auxiliary’s Port Angeles flotilla.
“Our whole mission in the Coast Guard Auxiliary is to try to reduce the accidents, to help people know what to do to stay safe out there.”
Power Squadron courses have a broader focus, offering instruction in areas such as marine weather, electronics, sailing skills and cruise planning. Beyond the various multi-week classes, which run in fall and spring, squadrons offer free seminars on various topics—for example, there’s an Oct. 8 seminar at Seattle’s Queen City Yacht Club on how to get reliable weather forecasts in the Pacific Northwest (“No fooling; they do exist,” said Ray, who’s teaching the course).
The next Power Squadron basic boating course in Seattle starts Tuesday, Sept. 22. Details on the Seattle Sail and Power Squadron’s other course offerings are available here. Other squadrons around Puget Sound also have courses starting up; a map and links to the various squadrons are available here.
A few Coast Guard Auxiliary courses have started around Puget Sound but others are getting underway soon; dates, times and locations are available here.
Ray said though the courses offered by U.S. Power Squadrons vary by area and class, the instructors all have one thing in common: a passion for boating and a willingness to share their knowledge.
“Generally speaking, the instructors we use have been teaching for a while,” he said. “There are no salaries in it. We teach because it’s fun and it’s a contribution to the community.”
(Editor’s note: the author is a member of the Seattle Sail and Power Squadron and has taken one of its navigation courses, which she thought was excellent.)
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