From the Captain of the Port

When I have written in the past about the need and use of a VHF radio, I noted that if you didn’t have a radio aboard you were risking your life over a couple of hundred dollars – it was “nutty” not to have a radio aboard. Nonetheless, many don’t! And those skippers rely on their cell phone for emergency assistance. OK, I guess you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink….

When we were kids, it was all about readin,’ ritin’ and ‘rithmetic. On the sea, especially in cold water environments, it’s all about rescue, recovery and re-warming. I don’t expect many boaters are out there on our bays, creeks and littoral areas of the ocean now. But some are out there. And the waters are cold and will still be cold once April 1 comes around and the moorings go back in. This column is about that….

A number of years ago, as I was doing a (free) U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary vessel exam for the owner of a very substantial yacht, I got to the part where I ask to see the life jackets. He pointed me to a locker, which I opened to find the life jackets, stowed under an anchor, chain and additional rode. This column is about that. No Good If You Can’t Get To Them I promptly asked him,…

As we (probably) all make New Year’s resolutions to go on a diet, we keep getting reminded that we are getting heavier as we get older. No matter where we turn, someone is telling us that we are getting fat and need to be thinner! Guess what? So are our boats! Yes, as boats get older, they get heavier and that has a lot to do about being less “sea-kindly” and more “tender” as they get older…

So, after a couple of seasons with my new 4-stroke 3.5hp engine (had to drop down to 3.5hp or face putting 80 pounds on the transom where formerly 40 pounds of 5hp had ridden), the engine just wasn’t as friendly to an all-outdoor environment as the old 2-stroke was. Happily, my mechanic was able to address – and explain – what the changes from 2-stroke to 4-stroke means. This column is about that. The Old 2-Stroke engine…

By Vincent Pica Commodore, First District, Southern Region (D1SR) United States Coast Guard Auxiliary When people write about keeping our waterways clean, the focus is largely on the things we drop in the water. So, what about the things we bring out there, like our copper-oxide bottom paint? This column is about that.   Painting with Poison Yes, if you really think about it, we paint the bottoms of our boats with poison. Intentionally. We’re trying to…

By Vincent Pica Commodore, First District, Southern Region (D1SR) United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Let’s finish up on the Lights and Shapes section of the Rules and be armed with the knowledge of what the merchant sea captain is saying to us… What Does Rule 28 Say? Rule 28 is about the Shapes and Lights that a vessel “constrained by her draft” uses to proclaim that she is drawing pretty much all the water there is –…

A couple of weeks ago, I laid out the groundwork for this next set of Rules, which are considerably more “intense” in their application of these so-called “Lights and Shapes.” Why? Because they have to do primarily with commerce over the open seas where the lifeblood of the U.S. and the world economies still flow. Despite our high-tech economy and reliance on the airline industry for transport, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reports that 90%…

By Vincent Pica Commodore, First District, Southern Region (D1SR) United States Coast Guard Auxiliary You may remember that we’ve written about boat handling in foggy conditions. Why is that? Well, if anybody has noticed how thick the fog can be, it bears deep understanding of what to do – and not do – when so enveloped. Within our series on the COLREGs, this column is more scholarly. In short, if there isn’t a Rule for it, it…

By Vincent Pica Commodore, First District, Southern Region (D1SR) United States Coast Guard Auxiliary We’re going to build on the last column with more detail on Rules 13, 14 and 15. Let’s start with Overtaking, where even a sailboat is the give-way vessel to a powered vessel.   Overview There are only three conditions of vessels meeting on the waters – head-on, crossing or overtaking situations. The Rules govern how the skippers are to interact with each…