My Boating Adventures & Adventures in Boating Safety
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Puget Sound has a large amount of vessel traffic and has very specific safety zones around whales and many types of ships. All mariners need to understand and observe the safety zones.
Washington State Ferries and other Passenger Carrying Vessels: Operate your vessel at minimum speed when within 500 yards and do not approach within 100 yards. If you must approach within 100 yards to comply with the Navigation Rules you must contact the Master of the vessel or the Coast Guard escort vessels or other on scene escort vessels on VHF-FM channel 13 or 16 for instructions. Do not approach within 25 yards of a moored passenger vessel. 33-CFR-1317
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Information to help you stay out of trouble with the Harbor Patrol and Coast Guard when boating in the Seattle area.
Rules of the Water:
All vessels operating on federally regulated waters, including those in the City of Seattle, shall be in compliance with all Federal, State and local equipment requirements.
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
What size and type of anchor do you need?
To fully answer the what size and type would require a book and even then not everyone would agree on the conclusions. What size and type of an anchor is a question bar fights have been known to be made of.
The bottom line is that all anchors will fail in some conditions many cruisers carry multiple types and sizes of anchors so they are ready for different conditions.
Every boater is encouraged to check the size and type of anchor and rode for their boat at least once to help insure they have the proper anchor and rode for their intended use. Every boater should understand the limits of each anchor they have on board. The manufactures literature as well as various catalog sheets and tests by publications such as Practical Sailor, Chapman Piloting, Seamanship & Small Boat Handling as well as the manufactures of your anchor line.
Extreme caution should be exercised when setting and retrieving the anchor to prevent damage to the boat and injury to the crew. Do not stand in the byte of the rode and getting caught in the rode and drug overboard. Also be careful of the windlass as it is easy to get caught in it’s teeth, also guard fingers against getting caught in or pinched by the chain.
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Guidelines from a power boat cruiser.
Your vessel needs adequate ground tackle to hold it in place at a safe depth in any weather you may encounter while off the dock.
Anchors: The type of anchor varies greatly so personal preference is where I will leave that.
Scope: The ratio of the length of the anchor line / rode to the depth of the water.
Rode: All the chain and or chain and line, here again personal preference.
All anchors require some chain to work correctly; rule of thumb is, the chains length is equal to or greater than length of the vessel.
Chain: Perhaps the most important part of the ground tackle it helps maximize the holding power of the anchor. The heaver and longer the chain the better your anchor can hold.
Monday, May 31st, 2010
This is a PowerPoint presentation I have given several times covering Sound Signals for the Rules of the Road in Puget Sound. Puget Sound does have some Local Customs with sound signals and the Ferries. This is a subset of rules but it does cover sound signals most likely to be seen by small boaters in the Puget Sound Area. (Approximately 12 minutes long)
Thanks for your interest in boating safety.
-c/m-
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
A few web links for a weather class I am taking and helping with in Seattle.
Greenwood / Green Lake Weather:
Cliff Mass Weather and other blog:
Washington State Ferry Weather / Wind:
NOAA Tides and Currents Home, With Gulf Oil Spill Information Link:
NOAA What are Tides and much educational information:
c/m
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
NAVIGATION EXERCISE # 2
This is a basic Navigation exercise but the problems are typical of those seen by a recreational boater. The questions are “Bite Sized” and except for one question, each question stands alone from the others.
This exercise was done on Small Boat Chart 18445 Page A. The area used is just South of West Point on the south end and Whidby Island on the North. If you have this chart or a similar chart that covers this area you may work the problems on it. If you do not have a suitable chart there is a PDF Chartlet of the area that can be printed out on 11 x 17 paper. Many office supply stores and copy centers can print 11 x 17 if you don’t have a large printer. You may also tile the printing to print onto two letter sized pages then tape them together, a bit crude but it does work.
The answers are at the bottom, there is also a PDF Chartlet showing the answers. The questions and answers are also available in a formatted for printing PDF file at the bottom.
Thanks for your interest in Boating Safety and good luck with the exercise.
Piloting and Navigators Quick Reference
Reference card with help for correcting and uncorrecting a compass, speed / time formulas and other quick hints for navigators.
Click For Larger View of Chartlet Area
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Nautical Training Charts are outdated nautical charts that are used for educational purposes. The charts are “frozen” with no updates made to the charts, this means that charting remains consistent from year to year so class material and test questions do not need to be changed every time the chart is updated or an ATON moved.
The charts are less expensive than the corresponding current charts. Some training charts have sections of Chart No. 1 printed on the reverse side.
Product ID Product Name Edition Date Price
13205TR BLOCK ISLAND SOUND & APPROACHES May 18 1991 $3.00
12221TR CHESAPEAKE BAY ENTRANCE Feb 29 1992 $3.00
39TR GREAT LAKES/TRAINING Jan 01 1975 $3.00
12354TR LONG ISLAND SOUND-EASTERN Feb 15 1992 $3.00
116TR LONG ISLAND SOUND Sep 05 1970 $3.00
1210TR MARTHA'S VINEYARD TO BLOCK IS/ May 28 1962 $3.00
18465TR STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA/E PART Aug 01 1998 $3.00
http://naco.faa.gov/ecomp/Catalog.aspx?a=NAUT+NOS+MISC+TRAINING
c/m
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
What we use winches for: Winches provide the mechanical advantage to hoist and trim the sails and running rigging on a sailboat. There are usually no powered winches. Depending on circumstances, there can be thousands of pounds of pressure on a line, so don’t be casual when working with lines and winches.
Grinding and tailing: The act of rotating the handle is grinding, pulling on the line being tightened is tailing. Because the winch won’t pull the line unless the line is tight on the winch drum, both actions need to occur simultaneously. Sometimes one person does both actions, sometimes it takes one person for each action. Thus the person pulling is the tailer, the person grinding is the grinder. One little joke we do from time to time (but not on races) is to get halfway through a tack and then not pull hard on the line. The grinder just keeps grinding but the sail doesn’t come in at all.
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Here are the questions and answers for the Mountaineers Sailing Crew Class Navigation Exercise There is a Chartlet with the answers drawn on it.
The answers match the Chartlet handed out in class. If you misplaced or did not receive a Chartlet there is one at the bottom of the page. The Chartlet provided here is slightly different from the one furnished in class. This one has depths in feet and slightly smaller type in some areas.
Piloting and Navigators Quick Reference
Reference card with help for correcting and uncorrecting a compass, speed / time formulas and other quick hints for navigators.
Friday, March 26th, 2010
A quick guide to using your VHF Marine Radio.
RADIO USAGE
Channel 16 is Distress and Calling.
Pleasure Vessels Working Channels: 09, 67, 68, 69 and 72.
Contact can be made on Ch 16 but then go to a working frequency
CALLING
Make sure Radio is turned on and set to the proper channel.
Press microphone button & speak past the microphone not directly into. Do not “spit” into the microphone, use a normal voice.
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Selected Puget Sound Charts with prominent marine points highlighted. Use as a training aid to learn the area or to find points on a chart quicker. The area points are in a white bubble with black border, this makes finding points quicker and easier.
The charts will print in Black and White or Color. Many office supply stores and copy centers can make large prints. The base charts are from standard NOAA chart graphics.
Shilshole to Ballard (PDF) – Suggested print size 11×17 inches (8.5×11 also works but type is a bit small).
Monday, March 1st, 2010
Crew Course Navigation Exercise 1
This is a basic Navigation exercise but the problems are typical of those seen by a recreational boater. The questions are “Bite Sized” and except for one question, each question stands alone from the others.
This exercise was done on Chart 18441 PUGET SOUND – NORTHERN PART. The area used is Elliot Bay Marina at the South East Corner and Agate Pass on the Northwest Corner. If you have this chart or a similar chart that covers this area you may work the problems on it. If you do not have a suitable chart there is a PDF Chartlet of the area that can be printed out on letter size paper.
The answers are at the bottom, there is also a PDF Chartlet showing the answers. The questions and answers are also available in a formatted for printing PDF file at the bottom.
Thanks for your interest in Boating Safety and good luck with the exercise.
Click For Larger View of Chartlet Area
Friday, February 26th, 2010
More information on Hypothermia (With Links to Videos) / Cold Water Boot Camp
SYMPTOMS: (Not all symptoms need to be present.)
A) Vigorous shivering.
When shivering stops will have advanced to (H) intoxicated or euphoric.
B) Clouding of mental capacity.
Impaired mental judgment (may vary from mild to severe), impaired speech, poor coordination, disoriented.
C) Muscular rigidity.
Movements may be unsteady, normal movements impaired, may selectively affect extremities (hands and arms when steering), numbness
D) Diminished breathing rate.
E) The skin may be cold to the touch or the lips can be blue.
F) Pupils dilated.
G) Pulse weak, slow, may be irregular.
H) A victim may appear to be intoxicated.
May also be an euphoric or don’t care state.
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
DISTRESS SIGNALS
DISTRESS NOTES
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