Category Archives: Boating Safety

The National Aids to Navigation Museum

Posted on February 18, 2012 by captnmike

The National Aids to Navigation Museum is located in Yorktown, Virginia at the USCG Training Center, in the atrium of Canfield Hall.  The Museum is open to everyone that has access to the base, this sadly limits the access by … Continue reading →

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Aids to Navigation–Class Aids

Posted on January 11, 2012 by captnmike

Students seem to struggle the most with the Aids to Navigation section when first learning about Boating Safety.  Most texts have simple diagrams and a few pictures but putting everything in context is difficult.  These teaching aids for Aids to … Continue reading →

Posted in Boating Safety | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

U.S. Aids to Navigation

Posted on January 7, 2012 by captnmike

Understanding what an Aid to Navigation (ATON) means is a very important part of Safe Boating.  One of the problems understanding what each Aid to Navigation means is visualizing what a specific ATON looks like and match it to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Boating Safety, Navigation, Sailing and Boating Skills, seattle | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

TVMDC – Practice – Correcting and un-correcting the compass

Posted on November 13, 2011 by captnmike

In today’s increasing use of electronic navigation aids, the ability to correct and un-correct a compass heading or bearing seems to becoming a lost art outside of a classroom.  Here are a few TVMDC Practice Problems to help keep your … Continue reading →

Posted in Boating Safety, Navigation, Safety Thoughts, Sailing and Boating Skills | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

The New Table

Posted on November 8, 2011 by captnmike

This is the new table I built for my boat.  My boat did not come with a cabin table which made eating below a bit of an adventure.  Some food was balanced a bit on the steps of the ladder, … Continue reading →

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Improved Fender Whip–Part 1

Posted on November 3, 2011 by captnmike

This is an improved Fender Whip that holds knots much better than a standard Fender Whip and is much easier to handle than standard double braid or three strand line.  I got this trick from the Chief on a Coast … Continue reading →

Posted in Boat Maintenance, Boating Safety, Sailing and Boating Skills | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Mike’s Quick Rope Whipping

Posted on October 26, 2011 by captnmike

This is the quick and secure whipping I use to whip the ends on double braid line.  I have not seen this in any book.  It has some of the elements of the classic quick temporary whipping but this method … Continue reading →

Posted in Boat Maintenance, Boating Safety, Sailing and Boating Skills | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

The New Non-Skid

Posted on October 21, 2011 by captnmike

Here are a few lessons I learned from my Do It Myself non-skid project on the deck of my boat. Paint: I used Interlux Interdeck, a Pre-mixed one part Polyurethane Non-skid paint which comes with fine non-skid particles already in … Continue reading →

Posted in Boat Maintenance, Boating Safety | Tagged , , | 6 Comments