Anchoring with Assurance: Don’t Get Carried Away

 Know how to anchor in a variety of situations, weather, or seabed and be prepared to adjust for changing conditions.

Learn the skills and knowledge of securing your vessel to the bottom through the use of a line, chain, and one or more anchors.  Whether it’s for fishing, swimming, a lunch break, or an overnight stop, one of the real pleasures in boating is “hanging on the hook” in some quiet spot.  Emergencies such as loss of power, equipment breakdown or failure, or weather hazard may also require that your boat be anchored for a time.

Good seamanship demands that all boaters know how to anchor safely.  Anchoring topics begin with how to select an anchorage and how to anchor depending on conditions.  After learning how anchors should be used, you will know if yours is satisfactory or what kind(s) to buy.  The seminar covers useful anchoring tips and tricks and concludes by discussing how to moor and raft safely.  

Ask your local squadron about on-the-water coaching to help you practice your skills with assurance, so you don’t get carried away.

Anchoring with Assurance is offered as a seminar and as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.

Boating on Rivers, Locks and Lakes

Confidently boat in safe water in fickle rivers, develop the special skills you need to deal with currents and shallows, know how to maneuver through locks, and learn the correct ways to maneuver in the presence of commercial vessels when you are boating on major inland waterways.

What’s included?

• Special navigation rules for rivers
• The Western Rivers System of buoys and marks
• River currents
• “Reading” a river
• Jetties and wing dams
• Intricacies of locking through
• Communicating with lockmasters and bridge tenders

Boating with Confidence: Handling Your Boat Under Way

Gain confidence, knowledge, and skills that you need for a variety of boat-handling situations.

Learn about basic operations; trimming your boat; operating on plane; handling seas and waves; dealing with bars, rivers, rivers, and bends; and other situations you will encounter along your cruise.  And you’ll have a better understanding about issues you can control and how to handle them. Understand the issues that the environment will present and how to react in a timely manner. 

Ask your local squadron about on-the-water coaching to help you practice your at-sea boat-handling skills until you feel fully confident handling your boat underway.

Boating with Confidence is offered as a seminar and as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.

Emergencies on Board: Preparation for Handling Common Problems

No one wants to think about it, but emergencies happen on boats. Be prepared for a variety of boating mishaps, medical emergencies, and other crises!

Prevention and preparation make all the difference.  This seminar will prepare you to handle common emergencies that can happen when you are on your boat and away from the dock, whether you venture out for the day or are leaving on a longer cruise.  You will learn how to deal with them as they occur and especially when the skipper is unable to respond.

Upon completion of this seminar, you will have gained an understanding of the most common types of vessel emergencies and how to deal with them, how to handle onboard fires, how to recognize and prepare for medical emergencies and how to communicate with crew, other boats, and first responders.

Emergencies on Board is offered as a seminar and as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.

Knots and Line Handling: The Knots You Need to Know

Do you know which knots to use in every situation? Learn to securely attach your boat and other useful applications.

Learn how to secure your boat to docks, piers, and other boats; handle rescue and repair situations; manage running rigging; anchor securely; and tow other vessels or people.  This seminar has been designed to help you to know which lines and knots to use in each situation.  You’ll gain knowledge and hands-on experience selecting the appropriate line and tying the 10 most useful knots, bends, and hitches; and you’ll learn how to care for the lines on your boat and on the dock.

Knots and Line Handling is offered as an individual seminar or it may be taken as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.

Rules of the Road: A Practical Approach

Avoid collisions and other hazards! Know the rules of the road.

Navigational rules of the road help you know what to do when you share the water with other boats, how to recognize and signal intentions, and how to avoid a collision.  This seminar focuses in a practical way on helping you understand the basic rules encountered by recreational boaters during almost every boating outing and the rules most likely to apply in the local waters where you boat.  It covers skipper responsibilities, general rules, and definitions, rules to avoid a collision, lights and shapes, and sound and light signals.

Rules of the Road will help you understand how to recognize local situations, the rules that apply, and the actions you should take.  And be sure to read the United States Coast Guard’s Navigational Rules and Regulations Handbook for the authoritative word on all rules of the road, since – as the skipper or designated crew member – you are responsible to know the rules that apply anywhere you boat.

Rules of the Road  is offered as an individual seminar or it may be taken as part of the Boat Handling course. Save by taking the whole course.