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WE TAKE THE POWER SQUADRON INTRO COURSE AND LEARN A LOT
by Bob Hale
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Mike Heinrich is a good salesman. Mike, who has a Grand Banks 36, stopped by the Waggoner display at the Seattle Boat Show in January, and we got to talking about the importance of the Power Squadron introductory boating course. This is a course I’ve been aware of, and actually recommend to new boaters. I hadn’t taken the course myself, but with more than 40 years boating experience in the Northwest, both sail and power, well . . . you know, did I really need to?
Mike persisted, and I decided that if I was going to recommend something, perhaps I should know exactly what I was recommending. My wife Marilynn said she would take the course with me. So beginning in February there we were, old hands and authors of the most popular boating book in the Northwest, sitting with more than 20 others in the Bellevue Power Squadron’s seven-week-long beginning boating course. I learned things. Quite a few things. If you haven’t taken the course, I suggest you do.
Our classes were held at the Bellevue High School library one evening each week for seven weeks. Class began promptly at 7:00 and ended promptly at 9:00, with a break at halftime. Subjects included the role of the skipper, knots and lines, charts, aids to navigation, piloting and plotting a course, dead reckoning, boat handling, government regulations, navigation rules, and many other things, all relevant to running a boat safely and with confidence. The instructors came from the squadron, and had been through an instructor course. The magic of PowerPoint kept the presentations crisp and on-message, yet allowed for questions and personal experiences.
The course book is 268 pages thick, with no fluff. Each student received the book, a course plotter, dividers, and a practice chart designed for instruction. We learned to plot courses on the chart and convert them from True (the language of the chart) to Magnetic (the language of the compass), and back again. We learned about the buoyage system, and what the buoys and beacons mean. We learned to take a bearing on a known object such as a lighthouse, to establish a line of position. When bearings to two known objects intersect, we would have a Fix – we would know where we are. We learned about anchoring, and docking, and which boat is the Stand-on vessel and which was the Give-way vessel. We learned that the concept of Right of Way does not exist: Every vessel carries the responsibility to avoid a collision.
The only problem was that each subject could have occupied a full seven-week course – and more – on its own. The learning never stops.
This introductory course is valuable not only for skippers (usually the men) but also for crews (usually the women). If you’re going out on a boat only once, you can be a passenger. Readers of this web site, however, probably aren’t going out only once. The happiest boating couples seem to be the ones who share in the operation of the boat, and work from the same script.
The final exam. Oh, yes, the Test. Eighty-five questions, multiple choice. Given my 40+ years of experience and given what I do, I hoped to score 100%. Instead, I missed three questions. One was on trailering, the other on personal water craft, neither of which I do. The third was a marking error. I knew the answer was C but I marked A. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I still passed. You can miss 17 and pass. The certificate qualifies me for the Washington State Boater Operation Card, and might qualify me for a discount on the boat insurance. Marilynn was out of town the night of the test, so she will have to take it separately.
The course cost $60, which included all materials and room rent. A second person is $25 extra, if materials are shared. Power Squadrons are located just about everywhere boating goes on. To find one near you go to www.usps.org. A little poking around on the home page will take you to the screen you need. The Bellevue Squadron, which has more than 300 members and is very active, has its own web site, www.bellevuepowersquadron.org.
And thank you Mike Heinrich, for persisting.
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