Flotilla 5-11 (Upper Manhattan) will hold a session of America’s Boating Course on 12 December, starting at 9:00. Use the “Contact” link above to request more information or sign up. Passing this course meets the minimum requirements for most states’ boating safety certificates.
The Division election took place on Monday. For those who weren’t there, the 2010 Division leaders will be:
Division Commander: John Gallagher
Division Vice Commander: Rich Turrin
Congratulations to all who ran.
Does the subject line sound familiar? Like something everyone knows already? Of course it does – you shouldn’t get behind the wheel if you’ve been drinking. Simple as that.
Unfortunately, some folks still haven’t gotten the message, especially when it’s the wheel (or tiller) of a boat instead of a car. Every year, the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary have to respond to numerous horrible tragedies involving drunk boaters. Indeed, 21% of all boating deaths in 2007 were a result of alcohol use, and lots of other boaters got injured, sometimes permanently, in these drunk boating wrecks.
Don’t be one of those statistics. Don’t let your friends be one of those statistics. To help get the word out, the Coast Guard is holding “Operation Dry Water” next week. Check out the web site, and point your boating buddies there, too.
Besides publicizing the dangers of boating under the influence, the Coast Guard, in collaboration with local police departments nationwide, has given Operation Dry Water serious enforcement teeth: boat drunk, and you could go to jail. Simple as that.
Assembling the proper uniform is a surprisingly difficult job. Fortunately, the official Uniform Procurement Manual has now been updated, so members should download a copy of the PDF and read it before they start shopping.
Once you’ve acquired all of the pieces of your new uniform and had the insignia stitched on, be sure to wear it properly. Talk to your FC about proper uniform configuration, and wear the outfit to an Auxiliary meeting to make sure it’s ship-shape before wearing it on an actual mission. When you wear the uniform, you’re representing the whole Coast Guard, so get it right.
Recently, many members received an email from an address that starts “3nconf-618420461.” If you have been paying attention to computer security, the cryptic-looking address might have made you think that this could be a “phishing” scam. It was not. The 3N system is an alert network the Coast Guard is in the process of deploying, and emails from this network will often have addresses that start with “3n…” In this case, it was a legitimate message from Cdr. Young telling Auxiliarists how the Coast Guard is responding to the recent H1N1 influenza outbreak. The link in the email leads to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site on flu.
While this notification was legitimate, there is no doubt that scammers are roaming the internet, and some of them may even hit on the idea of using Coast Guard Auxiliary news as bait. If you ever have any doubts about the legitimacy of a Coast Guard-themed email message or web site, do not click on it. Instead, contact your unit through the usual Chain of Leadership, and ask about the message in question. Your FC or other officers should be able to clarify the matter immediately.
As you should know by now, the old 121.5 MHz EPIRBs are obsolete. However, when we said you should “throw away” those beacons, well, that wasn’t the best way to phrase it.
Many old aircraft still carry 121.5 MHz EPIRBs, and the Civil Air Patrol still monitors that frequency and responds to calls on it. In other words, if you toss your old EPIRB into the trash intact, it could go off at some point in the future, triggering a massive SAR response to your local dump.
That would be bad. Very bad.
Instead, follow these instructions for disabling and recycling the beacon.
As the weather starts to warm (yes, it will), this is the perfect time to visit your boat and take an inventory of your safety equipment. It’s also an excellent time to contact your local Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla to find out about getting a free Vessel Safety Check. It will cost you nothing, and could save your life. For example, here’s one item our Vessel Examiners are now on the lookout for:
The old 121.5 MHz and 243 MHz emergency beacons are now not only obsolete but are no longer monitored. Only 406 MHz beacons will be monitored. To prevent boaters from having a false sense of security, all Vessel Examiners will make a point of checking all EPIRBS to make sure that they are the 406 type, and they’ll inform boaters if they have obsolete equipment and let them know that they will no longer be monitored. Boaters who want more information about this particular issue can check the NOAA web site.
Vessel Examiners will also check things like bilge ventilation systems, life jackets, and flares, and ensure that all of your safety gear is up to date.
The Division5nyc.org site has now moved to a new server. If everything went perfectly, this post will be most readers’ first indication that anything happened – in computer terms, the move should have been “transparent to the user.” The one thing that might have broken is your RSS link, if you’re reading the blog that way. Simply bookmark the feed again, and that should fix it.
This move should solve the problem we were having with slow page loads. If you have any other problems with the site, or if you notice it loading slowly again, please let the CS officer hear about it. You can reach him through the “Contact” link above, or email him directly.
Orion has issued an update to the earlier notice about their Skyblazer-brand flares. After extensive testing, the company concluded that the flares actually work as intended, as long as the user follows the instructions precisely. They’ve lifted the product quarantine, and these flares are once again approved for sale and use. Now would be a good time to dig out any Skyblazer flares you own and re-read the instructions to be sure you know how to use these signaling devices correctly.
Orion has issued a warning to owners of Skyblazer XLT flares. You can read the full announcement here, but the short version is that these flares can malfunction and injure their users. If you have Skyblazer flares, set them aside and buy a different type of Coast Guard-approved flares to replace them.
If you find yourself aboard a vessel that only has Skyblazer flares, and you need to send a distress signal, the company recommends wearing heavy gloves to hold the flare.