Flotilla Conducts Search & Rescue with Coast Guard Air Station

By Jim Mayer

On Wednesday morning, May 23, under clear skies, the United States Coast Guard, with assistance from Flotilla 96, conducted search and rescue exercises 1,500 yards off Bonita Beach. A helicopter unit from the Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater represented the Coast Guard, and two safety patrols, both under Coast Guard orders, represented the flotilla.

The Coast Guard's M-60 Jayhawk during simulated rescue
operations off Bonita Beach on May 23.

For thirty minutes, a 4-person crew, flying a Coast Guard medium-range recovery helicopter, demonstrated search and rescue (SAR) techniques simulating different types of swimmer deployments and survivor recoveries.  As stand-by vessel, Jim Mayer’s boat, Miss Molly, was positioned to act as a recovery vessel in case the helicopter, an MH-60J Jayhawk, experienced a mechanical failure.  

Use this link to access the news story, which includes video of rescue simulations and interviews with Larry Urbanek of Flotilla 96 and Jeff Kerner, commanding officer of Coast Guard Station Fort Myers Beach:

http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2012-05-23/Coast-Guard-conducts-drills-ahead-of-Memorial-Day-weekend.

The Minutes in a Minute

May 16, 2012

After preliminaries, Dave Shuster, Flotilla Commander, swore in new member Ross Tisci and presented awards to attending members.  Announcements of interest included the following:

Members urged to check the expiration date on the back of their ID cards and notify the flotilla commander if they need a new one.

Seventh District Coast Guard Auxiliary asked to provide 20 to 40 vessels for round-the-clock duty at Republican National Convention in Tampa the last week of August.  If interested, contact Dave Shuster.

Problem in another flotilla has led to a new procedure to use when auxiliary facility under orders is aground or disabled:

Contact Station FMB immediately.  Station will take command of    communications and set 15-minute report schedule.  Failure to report will lead to call-out of rescue vessels.

Awards, awards, awards!

Sustained Auxiliary Service: Ned Herrmann, 1^st award

Michael DiPierro and Jim Mayer, 3^rd award.

Telecommunications Operator Certification:

Mike Murphy, Ed Walters, and Larry Urbanek.

Auxiliary Performance Award:

Michael DiPierro and Ned Herrmann for Operations

Mel Milstein and Mike Dobrovic for Vessel Examinations

Vessel Examiner Certification:

John Abatecola

Human Resources Challenge Coin:

Larry Urbanek

Meet New Member Ross Tisci

Ross gets the award for the best line by a new member:  “I try to be a good boater which automatically makes me a bad golfer, but I do enjoy both hobbies.”

Ross joined Flotilla 96 after hearing Dave Shuster's presentation to the Bonita Springs Men's Club, and says he “looks forward to learning and serving.”

Ross was born and raised in Auburn, New York, in the heart of the Finger Lakes region.  He began boating at age three on Owasco Lake.  As an adult, he’s owned three twin-screw boats and traveled through the New York State canal system, on the Hudson River as far north as Montreal, through the St. Lawrence Seaway, and around all of Lake Ontario. He currently has a 23 ft. fiberglass deck boat with a 150 hp outboard at Barefoot Boat Club, which he hopes can be of use to the flotilla. 

Ross practiced law in his hometown for 37 years, retiring in July 2005. During his career he was in the District Attorney's office, nine years as an Assistant D.A. and four years thereafter as the D.A.  He got his law degree at Wayne State University.    By Jim Samples

Fish Tale Marina Hosts National Safe Boating Week Event

Flotilla 96 turned out on Saturday, May 19, to kick off National Safe Boating week at nearby Fish Tale Marina. John Tyson, District 7 Chief of Staff, manned the communications trailer as watchstander for coxswain Heinz Janke’s patrol aboard Franconia with crewmen Richard Brant and Phill Smith.

Adding excitement was a demonstration by the Coast Guard’s 33-foot rapid response boat from Station For Myers Beach.  The Coasties also joined in by rescuing Herman, the flotilla's
life-size rescue dummy.

Franconia's crew takes a turn rescuing Herman.

Left to Right:  Coast Guard's MK3 Andrew Ross, E3 Kyle McBride,
and BM2 Brian Lopes, participating in National Safe Boating Week
at Fishtale Marina.

All National Safe Boating Week  photos by Greg Guederian.

Memorial Day at Veterans Memorial Elementary School

Andy Evva and Grant Skaggs represented Flotilla 96 at Posting of the Colors on May 25 at Veterans Memorial Elementary School.

Andy Evva and Grant Skaggs with students and guest speaker
Lt Cdr. David Salmons as part of the flag detail at Veterans
Memorial Elementary School on Memorial Day.

Dave Shuster, Flotilla Commander

May was a busy month for the flotilla and the summer months will be no less active.

The busiest area in May was public affairs.  We gave presentations to the Lee County Sheriff’s Marine Enforcement Division and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Marine Enforcement Department.  The flotilla conducted vessel safety checks during National Safe Boating Week at Fish Tale Marina and Lover’s Key Boat Ramp. Our final promotional event was the successful training demonstration with the MH-60 Jayhawk from Air Station Clearwater.  I hope everyone had an opportunity to see the coverage on Channel 5 WINK News.

In addition, we graduated three more watchstanders and several new vessel examiners and program visitors. 

Our flotilla dashboard shows that we are ahead of our goals and in some cases we have already exceeded our annual goals.

We have conducted 14 speaking engagements this year and may have as many as 34 by year’s end.  We planned two other promotional events for the year and we have organized four.

We’ve sworn-in nine new members, which is 60% of our annual goal.  We’re at 78% of our annual program visitation goal and 60% of our annual goal for vessel safety checks.  Public education has achieved 90% of its goal of graduating 120 students for 2012.

As the pace slows down during off-season, we will have time to work on our plans for next season. Planning is underway for a vigorous training schedule this fall.  Our biggest challenge is to train and prepare eight crewmembers and one coxswain for requalification examinations by the end of the year.   

Member Training will offer another class for telecommunications operators beginning June 21. An instructor development course (IDC) starts August 13 for six weeks of two-hour classes.

Last of all, I ask each of you to help with our primary goal of recruitment.  If you know of any organization that would be interested in learning what the Auxiliary is and what we do, please contact Jim Mayer

I thank all of you for your hard work.  As always, we are Semper Paratus.

Lawrence Urbanek, Member Training

Ray Mino and Laly Santiago are the newest members to complete the certification process as Telecommunication Operators (TCO). They completed their oral final under the new enhanced program for radio watchstanders. The next TCO class will begin in late June and it appears that we will have even more attending than the last class.

Neil Arnal, Vessel Examinations

Our numbers for vessel safety checks are growing with the increased boat traffic at local boat ramps.  In May we inspected 23 boats and 37 paddlecraft for a total count of 146 boats and 134 paddlecraft this year. We have a great VE team who know that our primary mission is to promote recreational boating safety and its various programs to the boating public. Thanks to all of you who show up on a hot Saturday morning to inspect boats. 

Ed Walters, Human Resources

One prospective new member, Tom Hart, is planning to attend the June meeting.

Ed Walters, Communications

After testing by Drew Lethert, we found that the radios in the trailer are unable to transmit at a satisfactory level. Both of the radios are very old. We plan to replace one of them with a new updated unit and acquire a hand-held radio to use as a backup in case the facility sustains damage that renders it inoperable. Approval of this expenditure is under discussion.

Ned Herrmann, Operations

We had seven patrols under way in May.  Several were cancelled for weather or for mechanical reasons.