Flotilla 16-2, Serving Oklahoma's Green Country
Flotilla 16-2 will be conducting an educational boating course -- America's Boating Course on 3 March 2007 at Tulsa Port of Catoosa which is about 2 miles north of I-44 on 193rd E. Ave.. The class schedule is 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Registration begins at 8:30 am. FAMILY PARTICIPATION IS ENCOURAGED! For more information, click here.
America's Boating Course is a fun and comprehensive educational class that has something for everyone from the novice boater to the "old salt". It is an excellent class for fishermen and hunters who use a boat in their hunting (see below for more information). Everyone 12 years of age and up will benefit from the materials presented in this course. Family attendance is encouraged -- bring everyone that will be planning to enjoy your boating outings.
The course has been approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) and is acceptable education requirements in many states that require boater education. Individuals who successfully complete the course and exam will be awarded a certificate and wallet card. Many insurance companies will offer boat insurance discounts to individuals who have completed the course.
For $25*, you will receive a shrink-wrapped combination book and CD which can serve as reference material or a guide for more in-depth study. The CD includes all the material the Instructors will present and more in an interactive format.
Families attending together may want to share.
* All proceeds from sales are used for developing safe boating programs right here in the Tulsa area.
* INTRODUCTION TO BOATING -- types of boats; different uses of boats; outboard, stern-dirve and inboard
engines; jet drives
* BOATING LAWS -- boat registration; hull identification number; required safety equipment; operation safety
and reporting accidents; protecting the marine environment; Federal boatin laws; and PWCs
* PERSONAL SAFETY EQUIPMENT -- personal flotiation devices ("life jackets"); fire extinguishers; sound
producing devices; visual distress signals; first aid kit; anchor; savety equipment and PWCs
* SAFE BOAT HANDLING -- bow riding; substance abuse; entering, loading and trimming a boat; fueling
portable and permanent tanks; steering with a tiller and a wheel; docking and mooring; knots; filing a float
plan; checking equipment, fuel, weather and tide; using charts; choosing and using an anchor; safe PWC
handling
* NAVIGATION -- the U.S. Aids to Navigation system; types of buoys and beacons; navigatoin rules; avoiding
collisions; sound signals; PWX "tunnel vision"
* BOATING PROBLEMS -- hypothermia; boating accidents and rescues; capsizing; running aground;
emergency radio calls; engine problems; boating problems and PWC
* TRAILERING, STORING AND PROTECTING YOUR BOAT -- types of trailers; trailer brakes, lights, hitches,
tires and bearings; loading, balancing and towing a trailer; towing (and backing) a trailer; boat launching
and retrieving; boat storage and theft protection; launching, retrieving and storing a PWC
* HUNTING AND FISHING, WATERSKIING AND RIVER BOATING -- carrying hunting gear and guns in a
boat; fishing from a boat; waterskiing safety guidelines and hand signals; waterskiing with a PWC; navigating
rivers
Sign up NOW by calling 918-455-9713 or by contacting our webmaster
Warm weather days of spring always make us start thinking aobut getting our boats ready. We start thinking of all the chores involved in making our craft weaworthy for the upcoming season. But of all the taks that we have on our list, the one that never seems to make its way to the top is EDUCATION.
The art and science of what we call boating changes with each new technological advance. Just look at the boating "bible", Chapman's "Piloting, Seamanship & Small Boat Handling". Through the years, whole sections have grown and shrunk, been added and deleted. Skills you may have learned have grown rusty, new gadgets have changed the way we apply our skills. Unless we update our skill sets, we may not be as safe a boater as we might be. Educational seminars and courses are the answer and the Coast Guard Auxiliary is here to help.
Boating education isn't just about safety equipment and its use, nor is it about navigation. It's not about how your GPS work or how your depth finder integrates with your other electronics. This in not to say these topics aren't important and shouldn't be applied to make your boating trip safer and more enjoyable. But there are other aspects to boating education that people tend to forget, especially while on vacation.
Safety can, to a certain extent, be mandated -- but common sense can't. So, wheter you're on vacation in your own back yard, or in another country, if you're boating, utilize the good boating skills that we in the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary promote. You'll be safer and have a more enjoyable holiday.
Do you hunt water fowl or hunt in and around lakes, streams, rivers or ponds? Do you use a jon boat, rowboat, duck-boat or a blind near your favorite haunt? If you do, you are a boater and you should seriously think about getting more education, specifically boating education!
Most of us think accidents will never happen to us. But denial won't help if you or someone in your party is involved in an accident. In the year 2000, the Coast Guard reported that 23 vessels were involved in accidents while the occupants were hunting. Ten (10) fatalities resulted from those 23 accidents. That's about 1/10th of 1 per cent of all fatalities reported that year. That doesn't seem to be much of a risk until you realize fatalities occurred in 43% of all boating accidents related to hunting. 1999 statistics weren't much different. Think about it . . . if you have an accident while hunting from a boat, your chances of surviving that accident are only a little better than 50-50. With that sort of statistic, don't you think it would be wise to reduce your chances of being involved in an accident in the first place?
Boating while involved in hunting adds new dimensions and new dangers to both boating and hunting. Not only do you need to observe the rules inherent in boating (both from a legal stancpoint but also a boating technique stance), but now you have the added elements of danger of guns.
Hunting and boating, as well as other outdoor sports are best enjoyed when you return home safe and sound. Education is part of any sport and many outdoor sports require more preparation than other sports. There has been a steady decline in accidents and deaths in both boating and hunting since both mandatory and suggested ecducation programs were instituted. Many states now require mandatory boating and/or hunting education. In Oklahoma, you are unable to get hunting licenses without proof of a hunter safety course (or are of an age to be grandfathered). You don't have to have a boating course to operate a boat -- but for all these reasons, don't you think a boating class would be the smart move? America's Boating Course is an appropriate course for hunters.