How the Heck Can I Remember All of These Rules?

Ahh, the USCG Navigation Rules. Every mariner’s favorite topic – NOT.  They can be daunting to learn and remember and for many folks who use waterways they are completely unknown. However, anyone who ventures afloat on […]

The RPM Table and Search Patterns

Coast Guard Auxiliary surface facilities need to be inspected each year to confirm that all required items are in place.  One of those items is an RPM table.  What is that?  Very simply, it is a […]

The Art of Not Making Way

Operating a power-driven vessel is generally pretty easy.  Push the throttle forward, and you get propeller discharge current which either flows across the rudder or is directed flow in the case of outboards and I/Os.  The […]

Acting as a Man Overboard is Not a Competency

If you were to look at the narratives of past CG Auxiliary mishaps across the nation, you’d see a lot of them involve crew falling into the water.  Not a good thing, especially in cold weather […]

Line Handling Commands – Geek Out on Them

Yes, it’s that topic again.  We discuss them a lot in the Ops world, every year.  And yet every year we have folks get underway and use them inconsistently or not at all.  Why is that?  […]

How to Report Position While Underway

Those of us in the USCG Auxiliary are familiar with the requirement to report our ops status and position to whomever is maintaining our radio guard, normally at 30-minute intervals.  Of course the reason for this […]

Reciprocal Course

There are situations where it is useful to quickly and precisely derive a reverse course.  The scariest scenario is a man overboard when shorthanded.  On a small boat there might only be two persons on board.  […]

How Far Away is that Waypoint?

Imagine you are on the water and on the radio you hear a boater who needs assistance at a given location.  Where is that waypoint and how do you get there?  Of course you are familiar […]