USCG Auxiliary - America's Volunteer Life Savers                     US & USCG Aux. Ensign

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USCG Auxiliary District 1 Southern Region

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Need help tying knots? Take a look at this site.

BS&S - Ramsey High School. Sept 15, 2009(Tuesdays) for 10 weeks.  Start time 7:00pm.  Contact the Ramsey Adult School  201-327-2025.

BS&S and ACN (Advanced Coastal Navigation) - Wayne (Schuyler Colfax Middle School) Classes will begin again in the spring, March 2010  (Tuesdays) for 10 weeks. Class hours 7:15 - 9:30 pm. Register with Wayne Adult School.

 

 

 

 

 

Chart & Dividers

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Want to learn how to read a chart and understand the tides take our ACN course.

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Public Education

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:

Note: NJ now requires a Boating Safety Certificate in addition to a boat operators license 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). Line Break on page

November 2008 - NOAA’s 1,000-plus U.S. coastal and Great Lakes nautical charts are viewable here on-line.   Each chart is up-to-date with the most recent Notices to Mariners corrections.  http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/OnLineViewer.html

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).

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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.

ACN -  Advanced Coastal Navigation is course dedicated specifically to honing the skills of coastal (site of land, not celestial) 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. 

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EPRIB News - Monitoring of and support for 121.5/243 MHz EPIRBs are being phased out and SHOULD NOT BE USED after December 31, 2006.  See Press release for further details.

Going on a trip with your boat.  Learn about filing a float plan with a friend or relative at Float Plan Central or go directly to the Float Plan PDF document to print off a form to fill out and give to someone.

Recalls - Want to know when your boat gets a recall notice from the manufacture.  Owner records are sometimes incomplete and marine manufacturers may not be able to contact you with important safety information.  Boat/U.S.. has established an easy way for boat owners to be notified when defect recalls occur.  Register your boat in their National Recall Alert Registry

For past recalls check out the Coast Guard Recall database at the Coast Guard boating safety web site.

Where we Teach

Usually through the local Adult Education System.  Register through the school or on site the first night of classes.  Click on name of school for map.

Midland Park High School 250 Prospect St. MP, NJ

Ridgewood high School   Ridgewood Ave, Ridgewood NJ

Schuyler Colfax Jr. HS  Hamburg Tpk, Wayne NJ  07470 Through the Wayne Adult School

Ramsey High School   Main Street Ramsey, NJ  Through the Ramsey Adult School 201-327-2025.

Hillcrest Community Center  Macopin Road, Hewitt, NJ  07421

Mount Olive Community School Mt Olive Township School District 86 Rt 46 Budd Lake, NJ 07828 (973)-292-2063

Nutley Police Station 228 Chestnut St Nutley, NJ 07110

Morris County Technical School 400 East Main St, Denville, NJ 07843.  Contact Adult Education (973)-627-4600

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Last Updated:
11/11/2009