Keep Your Boat Afloat

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and Hillsborough County's South Shore Public Library have partnered to present
critical information boaters at all experience levels need to be safe on the waters of Tampa Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and inland lakes.

"Keep Your Boat Afloat" summarizes Coast Guard Auxiliary boating safety education classes offered year round at auxiliary flotillas in South Tampa, Brandon and Ruskin.

The Keep Your Boat Afloat program at the South Shore Library is Saturday, Oct. 8 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The library is at 15816 Beth Shields Way, Ruskin. There is no cost to attend.

Full Coast Guard Auxiliary courses are offered in Hillsborough County in either one-day, eight-hour sessions or in 12-week, two-hour per week sessions. Both formats are designed for new boaters seeking to develop skills and for old salts wishing to hone their "nautical knowledge." 

Boaters at all levels learn how to protect themselves, their passengers and vessels, how to handle on-the-water emergencies, how human and environmental factors affect boaters and more. 

Topics include:

Boat Handling - Anchoring; docking; heavy weather handling; man overboard retrieval.

'Highway' Signs - Buoyage systems; chart symbology/reading; electronic navigation.

Rules of the Road - Inland/International rules; stand-on/give-way concepts.

Navigation - Plotting; compass/chart use; GPS technology;
speed-time-distance calculations.

Boat Equipment - Operation/safety items; BUI/substance abuse; PFDs; first aid.

Lines, Knots and Hitches - Basic marlinspike skills, knot tying; types of lines.

Auxiliary boating education courses meet the new Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) regulations that now require residents born on
or after Jan. 1, 1988, and operating a vessel of 10 HP or more (including personal watercraft) to complete an approved boating education course.  More information is available at myfwc.com.

Boaters in other areas around Tampa Bay can check on auxiliary boating education classes near their homes by visiting: www.cgaux.org and using the 'flotilla finder' link.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is the nation's most active boating safety educator -- more than 100,000 boaters participate in its programs annually.

Locally, auxiliary flotillas have trained thousands of boaters since the 1960s from locations in South Tampa, Brandon and Ruskin.