From the Captain of the Port

By Vincent Pica Commodore, First District, Southern Region (D1SR) United States Coast Guard Auxiliary While we still have a ways to go to “splashing the boat,” I would say that getting the “gilt-edged” United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Vessel Safety Check – better known as the Vessel Exam – is always a great idea. Oh, and it’s free. What It is Not! USCGAux vessel safety checks are not a regulatory event. If your boat doesn’t pass all…

If you’ve ever seen the reflection of the blue-rotating hailing light in your windshield, you’ve felt the quickening in certain parts of your body: “Jeez, what did I do wrong?” The United States Coast Guard can and will board your vessel at their discretion. They need no search warrant, no provocation, no reason other than, “Good Morning, sir. My name is Officer Jones with the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard is here today to ensure you…

As we (probably) all made 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’re 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 (and…

By Vincent Pica, Commodore, First District, Southern Region (D1SR), United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Going back centuries, journals of seafarers are peppered with language indicating that they knew the Earth was round.  “In the offing” meant, and means today, the waters you can see from where you are to the horizon.  “Ahoy, captain, vessel off the starboard bow! Hull down, sir,” might yell the lookout from the crow’s nest aloft. This meant that all he could see…

When I teach seamanship courses to private boaters on the south shore of Long Island, I note that, if you boat in our local waters and have never run aground, you’re lying. Even USCG regulars have been known to “touch bottom” at times in these waters… I also note that God left a lot of sand on the south shore and not so much water – and plenty of water on the north shore/Long Island Sound but lots of rocks… So, the issue is not if you run aground but what you do afterwards.

This column is about rip tides, rip currents and undertows – which are what distant storms often leave us.

Back in the fall, we talked about how to get the boat ready for a long, cold winter. Time and tide is now on our side. So, before you start your engines, ready the boat!

Among the various locator devices is one that used be known as a Personal EPIRB or “PPIRB.” This is what we now call a “PLB” or Personal Locator Beacon. You wear it on your person. It also has a built-in GPS.

There is a tremendous amount of data on “righting moments,” centers of buoyancy and gravity, thanks to the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, amongst many institutions that literally live and die by these metrics.

A Master or individual in charge of a vessel shall render assistance to any individual found at sea in danger of being lost, so far as the Master or individual in charge can do so without serious danger to the Master’s or individual’s vessel or individuals on board.