Coast Guard Auxiliary offering boating safety classes

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is spreading the message about boating safety.

The auxiliary recommends that every boater take the About Boating Safely class, an eight-hour session in which participants learn the rules of the water and earn a Florida boater’s identification card. The class is required for anyone born after Jan. 1, 1988, who intends to operate a vessel of 10 horsepower or more. About 84 percent of drowning victims were not wearing a lifejacket, and 29 people in Florida died needlessly last year, according to an auxiliary news release.

For safe boating class information, contact Dan McFadden, public education officer, at 609.774.8677 or dan2brig@comcast.net.

The auxiliary is the uniformed, all-volunteer component of the U.S. Coast Guard and is made up of more than 25,000 members from all walks of life. The primary duty of the auxiliary is recreational boating safety. The auxiliary conducts patrols on waterways, assists in search and rescue, conducts vessel safety exams and teaches safe boating classes.

Members may even find themselves flying in a C-130 transport aircraft, working in marine safety and environmental protection or manning a Coast Guard workstation in the Emergency Operations Center during a disaster. Auxiliarists regularly serve alongside active duty personnel, excluding any direct law enforcement or military operations.

The auxiliary is looking for volunteers who want to provide a needed service to their community and their country. The auxiliary provides more than 4.5 million volunteer hours every year and has completed nearly 500,000 missions. Membership is open to people age 17 and older who pass a background check. There is no set amount of time required; it is all on a volunteer basis.

Flotilla 43 is the local auxiliary unit in Lake County. For information on how to become a member or attend a meeting, contact Martin Goodwin, human resource officer, at 407.761.8764 or martin.goodwin@cgauxmail.org.

Visit cgaux.org for more information on safe boating classes, free vessel exams and other boating material.