Passion for Paddling Hits Our Waters

By Jim Samples

Kayaks near Lovers Key Resort.  Photo by Virginia Russell

Some cynical boaters call them “speed bumps.”  But kayaks and other paddle craft are now a fact of life for boaters in Florida waters, including Flotilla 96’s area of operations.  Compared with powerboats and sailboats, kayaks and canoes are cheaper to purchase and insure, easier to maintain and transport, and more eco-friendly.  Plus, here in southwest Florida, their operators can conveniently reach our shallow back bays and rivers.

The most immediate impact of these kayaks and canoes is on our flotilla’s Vessel Safety Check program.  Examiners now use a separate form, 7012A, when inspecting paddle craft, a term that includes kayaks, canoes, rowboats, and paddleboards.  As directed by

 the form, our examiners look mainly at three things:  the overall condition of the vessel and the presence of life jackets and of sound signals.  And they also check for visual distress signals and navigation lights.

 According to Neil Arnal, our Flotilla Staff Officer for Vessel Examinations, our examiners are seeing more and more paddle craft each year.  So far this year, paddle craft account for about 60% of the vessel inspections performed by our members. This trend is especially true in the case of kayaks.  Mel Milstein has been instrumental in inspecting most of the rental kayaks available at the Lovers Key State Park.  And going forward, our examiners hope to perform inspections at other kayak rental sites and at kayak clubs in our area. 

Paddle craft also affect our flotilla in the operations area.  When on patrol, we are 

The Minutes in a Minute

March 21, 2012

38 members, 7 guests

After preliminaries, the Flotilla Commander and Vice Commander, Dave Shuster and John Gaston, swore in new members Brad Snow and Paul Thompson.

Shuster contratulates Paul Thompson.  Photo by Virginia Russell

Shuster reported excellent progress on 2012 goals Seven new members have been sworn in and three more are in progress.  The Bonita Bay Boat Show yielded 18 names of people who asked for information about the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Standing rules were amended to permit the Flotilla Commander to spend up to $500 without approval from the membership.

Guest speaker, FBI agent Matt Chester, a member of the flotilla, talked about improvised explosive devices made from easily obtainable products.  If you suspect something is not right, he advised, call the local authorities.

Visiting member Jim Clark urged the flotilla to field a team for the Atlantic Search and Rescue competition to be held at the Coast Guard Academy.

April Calendar of Events and Activities

DATE	EVENT	LOCATION
April 4 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Operations Group Meeting	Flotilla Building
April 11 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Staff Officers Meeting	Flotilla Building
April 12 - 9:00 AM to Noon	Suddenly in Command	Flotilla Building
April 14 - 9:00 AM to Noon	Vessel Inspections	Wiggins Pass & Lovers Key Boat Ramps
April 14 - 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM	About Boating Safety - Day 1	Flotilla Building
April 18 - 6:00 to 7:00 PM	Members Social Hour	Flotilla Building
April 18 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Members Meeting	Flotilla Building
April 21 - 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM	About Boating Safety - Day 2	About Boating Safety - Day 2
April 23 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Local Waters Knowledge	Flotilla Building
April 26 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	GPS for Mariners	Flotilla Building
April 28 - 9:00 AM to Noon	Vessel Inspections	Wiggins Pass & Lovers Key Boat Ramps

                                    Note:  Uniform for Staff Officers meeting is casual attire.  Uniform                                               for Members Meeting is trop blues.

May Calendar of Event and Activities

DATE	EVENT	LOCATION
May 2 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Operations Group Meeting	Flotilla Building
May 3 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	GPS for Mariners	Flotilla Building
May 7 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Local Waters Knowledge	Flotilla Building
May 9 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Staff Officers Meeting	Flotilla Building
May 12 - 9:00 AM to Noon	Vessel Inspections	Wiggins Pass & Lovers Key Boat Ramps
May 16 - 6:00 to 7:00 PM	Members Social Hour	Flotilla Building
May 16 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Members Meeting	Flotilla Building
May 26 - 9:00 AM to Noon	Vessel Inspections	Wiggins Pass & Lovers Key Boat Ramps

                                    Note:  Uniform for Staff Officers meeting is casual attire.  Uniform                                               for Members Meeting is trop blues.

June Calendar of Events and Activities

DATE	EVENT	LOCATION
June 6 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Operations Group Meeting	Flotilla Building
June 9 - 9:00 AM to Noon	Vessel Inspections	Wiggins Pass & Lovers Key Boat Ramps
June 13 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Staff Officers Meeting	Flotilla Building
June 20 - 6:00 to 7:00 PM	Members Social Hour	Flotilla Building
June 20 - 7:00 to 9:00 PM	Members Meeting	Flotilla Building
June 23 - 9:00 AM to Noon	Vessel Inspections	Wiggins Pass & Lovers Key Boat Ramps

                                    Note:  Uniform for Staff Officers meeting is casual attire.  Uniform                                               for Members Meeting is trop blues.

Awards, awards, awards

Meeting March 21,2012

Vessel Examiner certificate to Drew Lethert

Program Visitation certificate to Michael Murphy

Watchstander/TCO certificate to Greg Guederian

Sustained service emblem (5^th) to Larry Urbanek

Training Topics for Monthly Operations Meetings

May 2:              Risk and resource management

June 6:             Patrol planning

July:                 No meeting due to Independence Day

August 1:         Marlinespike and line handling commands

September 5:   Lookout duties and responsibilities

October 3:        Anchoring procedures and commands

November 7:    Search and rescue plotting techniques

December 5:    Search and rescue plan variables

Meet Our New Members: Paul Thompson

Paul (left) with Kelly Collins and Casey Hathorne, training with
Handicap SCUBA Association.

Originally from Colorado, Paul grew up in Missouri.  He’s a tribal citizen of the Western Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, where much of his extended family lives.  His hobbies are astronomy, scuba diving, computers and Cherokee history.

Paul recently retired from Northrop Grumman Corporation with 31 years of service as a Senior Field Engineer. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserves in 2002 after 26 years of active and reserve duty.  He served all over the world including tours in Africa and Europe and worked as a Disaster Preparedness Officer to FEMA Region IX headquarters.  In this assignment he was the Army’s Liaison to 50 Native American Nations. 

He learned at an early age to canoe and drive boats. Being a scuba diver, Paul has learned first-hand how unsafe our waterways can be.  Once his dive boat captain had to report two jet skiers to the Coast Guard for buzzing around his dive flag.  This incident helped him decide to join the Coast Guard Auxiliary to promote boating safety. 

Meet Our New Members: Brad Snow

Brad first learned about the Coast Guard Auxiliary when he heard  our Flotilla Commander, Dave Shuster, speak at the Bonita Men’s Club. He joined our flotilla so he can get out and help people on the water.  His goal is to become a coxswain.

Brad has been a boater most of his life, on both the Atlantic Ocean and salt ponds in the Northeast.  He’s owned two different 19' Grady White Tournaments since 1996.

Brad has an accounting degree from the University of Connecticut.  He worked for 13 years in the construction industry as an accountant.  He started a cultured marble manufacturing company in 1997 and sold it ten years later. Brad splits his time between Bonita Springs and Charlestown, Rhode Island, where he owns a home.   Brad has three grown children, two daughters and a son.

8-Hour Team Coordination Training Class

TCT Saturday, June 16 at 8:00 AM

at USCG Station Fort Meyers Beach.  Lunch will be available. You must register in advance.  Space is limited, so reply early to:

David Schwartz, TCT Facilitator, D7

Cell: (239) 898-0787

Email:TCT-D7-Schwartz@comcast.net

Dave Shuster, Flotilla Commander

The first quarter of 2012 has been very successful and we’re ahead in all of our goals. The credit goes to flotilla members who gave their time and effort, and to the staff officers and their aides.

 

So what’s our emphasis for the second quarter of 2012?  Not surprisingly, we need to stay the course and stay focused.  Within the next few weeks our snowbird members will be heading back north.  I would encourage them to continue their Auxiliary service.  Find a nearby flotilla and become a visiting member.  Continue performing your Vessel Safety Checks and your Program Visitations.  Keep teaching safe boating classes, going on patrols, and attending or teaching member training classes and workshops.  Remember, Flotilla 96 receives credit for any Auxiliary hours and activities you perform.  Stay engaged and active.  Make new friends and expand your fellowship opportunities at your summertime flotilla.

When activities in here slow down for our full-time residents, we need to keep pushing toward our core goals.  This is also a good time to review our programs and courses, to improve their effectiveness and to provide more motivating programs.  We will also prepare to end the year with a strong finish.

The District is releasing a powerful new tool to help us measure our performance and focus on needed improvements.  It is a flotilla dashboard, similar to the dashboard we now use.  However, this new dashboard measures our current year performance against the previous year.

  It will report the following six performance measurements after each quarter and at the end of the year.  They are the percentage increase or decrease for:

1. Number of Public Education graduates
2. Number of Vessel Safety Checks
3. Number of Program Visitations
4. Number of Member Training Hours
5. Number of Patrol (Lead) Hours
6. Net Number of Members

This report measures our core mission areas.  It enables the flotilla to easily see if we’re doing what we’re asked to do by the Coast Guard, and whether we’re making incremental improvements

Thank you for a great first quarter. Stay focused on our 2012 flotilla goals for recruitment and retention, improved mission performance, and expanding organizational relationships.  

Ned Herrmann, Operations

Joint training with Station FMB

March continued to be a warm month with most patrols operating with temperatures in the 80s. Wind and seas hampered a few patrols, restricting operations to inside waters.  Weekends were loaded with recreational boaters.

     

We had fourteen patrols for the month.  Four involved ATON inspections, one was training with Station Fort Myers Beach, and one was a night navigation.