The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary offers
courses on
boating safety, boating skills, and navigation. Some of these courses
will qualify you for a PWC (Personal Water Craft or Jet Ski) license as well as a Motor boat Operators
License. A Safe Boating certificate from the NJ State Department of Law
and Public Safety is required for operating a PWC on
non-tidal waters in NJ and NY. It is NOT the same as a motor boat
operators license that you get from the State Division of Motor
Vehicle Services. Here is the statement from the NJ DMV web site:
Persons operating on non-tidal waters must also carry a New
Jersey boat license. In addition, a person born in 1979
or later and all operators of personal watercraft — less
than 16 feet long equipped with an internal combustion engine
that powers a water jet pump that can't be disengaged as to
prevent the vessel from making headway — must complete an
approved boating safety course and carry the certificate
whenever operating the vessel. They must present this
certificate when they apply for a boat license to operate on
non-tidal waters.
Note:
NJ now requires
this Boating Safety Certificate for all persons operating any
power driven vessel in the state of NJ (Persons born prior to 1949
have until June 1 2009 to obtain this certificate)
New York has similar rules
regarding taking and passing a safe boating course for operation of
a personal water craft (PWC, jet ski). 
October 2008 -
ORION Flair Product
Alert - Orion Safety Products,
manufacturer of the Skyblazer hand-launched red aerial flare (“Skyblazer”),
has received a report indicating the safety sleeve on the Skyblazer
may become detached from the launch tube body during ignition.
Click here to see
their announcement for details. Updates on this
product alert can be viewed directly on Orion's web site at -
http://www.orionsignals.com/
September 2008 -
Carbon Monoxide
article, Boating Safety Hotline, and recall campaigns -
BSC 86: is a periodical the CG publishes on occasion as needed (85
was the last one in spring 07). There's a good article on
Carbon Monoxide poisoning, information regarding the Boating Safety
Hotline termination (the number is again owned by the CG but no
longer in use) and some great information on recall campaigns.
[Source:ALAUXDIST1SR, FM: CDR E. D. Young United States Coast Guard,
SUBJ: Miscellaneous Topics - 008/08]
September 2008 -
2007 Recreational Boating Statistics
The 49th annual Recreational Boating
Statistics report contains statistics on recreational boating
accidents and State vessel numbering activities. This report is a
result of the coordinated effort of the Coast Guard and those states
and territories that have Federally approved vessel numbering and
casualty reporting systems.
http://auxbdept.org/pdf/2007RecreationalBoatingStatistics.pdf
(PDF: 8800 KB / 73 pages) Some Highlights from this report:
- 86% of all
accidents in 2007 involved a boating operator who had not taken
a boating safety class
- Accident deaths were down, but number
of accidents were up for 2007 vs. 2006.
- The number of deaths associated with
the use of canoes/kayaks increased to 107
in 2007 as compared with 99 in
2006.
- Alcohol use is the
leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents; it was
listed as the leading factor in 21%
of the deaths. Alcohol use was also listed in 5th place as
the primary contributing cause for all accidents.
- The 12,875,568 vessels registered by
the States in 2007 represent a one percent increase from last
year.
July 2008 - NJ Boaters. Here is a
link to the
NJ State Police Boating Safety Manual, as revised 01/08.
June 2008 - DSC Radio Tutorial Available
The BoatU.S. interactive tutorial on DSC
Radio is a great asset for all boaters, including Auxiliarists and
the general public. This online tutorial reveals much information
about Rescue 21 and the proper use of Digital Selective
Calling (DSC) radios.
See
http://www.boatus.com/foundation/dsc/player.html
Master list of Boating courses in 1st District
SR (NJ, NY, Connecticut).
Click here for additional info
on Boating law changes for NY, NJ, and CT.
Here is a brief overview
of the courses we have available.
About Boating Safety (ABS) is an 8 hour course (6-6 1/2 hours of instruction 1 1/2-2 hours for the test) usually taught as 2 4
hour sessions over 2 weeks or four 2 hour classes over a 4 week
period. Occasionally we will teach this in 1 day for 8 hours. This is a very basic boating class designed
to appeal to hunters, anglers, personal
watercraft operators and other boaters who cannot find time for a
full, comprehensive boating safety course. Completion of
this course will provided the students with a certificate that will permit them to operate a PWC on state
(non-tidal) waters.
This course also qualifies the student for the Boating Safety certificate that is required for all motorboat operation on state
(non-tidal) waters. See our boating law changes page for details. This course covers; safety and legal requirements, navigation rules, PWC
and small boat handling, emergency measures, and courtesy.
Boating Skills & Seamanship
(BS&S)
is a more comprehensive course designed for both the
experienced and novice boater. There is a 7 lesson and
a 13 lesson version of this course. We typically teach the 13
lesson course given over a period of 9 or 10 weeks with each class
running about 2 1/4 hours. Completion
of this course will provided the students with a certificate that
will permit them to operate powerboats, including PWCs. In this
course students will learn various types and classes of boats and
motors, maneuvering, mooring, anchoring, heavy weather handling,
marlinspike (lines, knots, hitches), aids to navigation, charts,
basic navigation, compass corrections, rules of the road, plus
Federal and State requirements and regulations.
Advanced Coastal Navigation (ACN)
is course dedicated specifically to honing the skills of coastal
(site of land) piloting and navigation. It is a 14 lesson
course taught over a 10 or 11 week session. ACN is a
comprehensive course to prepare the advanced boater with the
knowledge needed to safely pilot a boat. Learn how to use a compass,
charts, radio navigation; how to plot a course; determine your
position; plan a cruise; estimate speed, distance, and time; use
currents and tides to maximize time and/or fuel consumption. BS&S
(above) or some Piloting experience recommended but not required.
