Dave Shuster, Flotilla Commander

I’m pleased to report that our 2012 Flotilla Plan is off to an excellent start and I have a great deal to report.  The credit goes to our team of staff officers, aides and the flotilla members who provided the many man-hours of work.

Not only are we ahead in all three goal areas after our first month, in some cases we’re many months ahead of schedule.  As of today, our number one goal, significantly increasing recruitment and retention, is over 25% towards our annual target of fifteen new members. We have four new members and within a few weeks we may be at almost 70% of that target. 

As to retention, all of our new members have either started, will soon begin their first training classes or are participating as aides to flotilla staff officers.  We’ve started our second Telecommunications class with a mix of new and existing members attending.  Our Operations meetings under the leadership of Ned Herrmann and Mike DiPierro are moving forward with a full agenda, producing a significant increase in patrol activity and discussion of future improvements in operational performance and education.

Our second goal, improving mission excellence in all activities, is developing nicely.  The improvements in our speaker bureau methods are in large part behind our recruitment gains.  We have already begun to employ Coast Guard leadership methods in mission performance, with the chartering of a small task group to develop safe and effective recovery procedures for an unconscious person-in-the-water.  This focused, organized approach will ensure we adequately plan and execute our activities.

 Our third priority goal, expanding organizational relationships, is also ahead of schedule.  Through our presentation to the Brooks Fish Club, the Brooks gated-community club, called The Commons, will host one of our About Boating Safely classes at their facility, to the 2,000-plus members of their club, on March 27th and 29th.  

We performed vessel safety checks for the Riverwoods Yacht Club after our presentation on “What is the Auxiliary and What Do We Do?” Our next presentation will be to the Cascades Community Men’s Club.

Today I spoke with Bob Wasno, Director of the Marine Research Department for Florida Gulf Coast University.  He has scheduled, through Neil Arnal, to have us perform Vessel Safety Checks on their department boats again this year.  Further, he would like to set up a schedule of safe boating classes for their university students.  

Greg Guederian, our Public Affairs officer, has been busy securing promotional opportunities. He capitalized on a last-minute opportunity for our free participation at the Naples Boat Show. 

Ed Walters for Human Resources, Communications, Materials

Human Resources: New member Richard Laughlin has begun working with me as an aide and will become the Staff Officer for Human Resources in the near future. Rich has been a great help and has shown that he will be an asset to the flotilla.

Paperwork for John Abatecola and Leonard Nuzzo has been submitted and I hope to receive their ID numbers in time for them to be sworn-in at the February meeting.  In addition, Rich and I are working with six prospective members in various stages of the membership process.

Communications: A new Telecommunications Operator Class began on January 24 with three members: Laly Santiago, Ray Mino and Mike Murphy. We have been struggling to come up with enough watchstanders for patrols, so we look forward to their certification.

Materials: George Stancil has assumed the position of Staff Officer for Materials. I will be helping George with the transition.

Ned Herrmann, Operations

We have established a system to expedite and maintain issues of importance in Operations. The team of Herrmann and Michael DiPierro has added volunteers Bernie Appelman and Rich Brant to assist with these tasks. We will have an Ops meeting once a month to offer the latest information and a training class at each meeting. The training subject will be announced prior to the meeting. All operational personnel are encouraged to attend and all members are welcome.

We had five daytime patrols in January and one daytime patrol training with Station Fort Myers Beach.  We had one night patrol.  Sixteen patrols are scheduled for February.

Greg Guederian, Public Affairs

Thanks to those who extended a warm welcome during my transition into Flotilla 96.

I look forward to 2012 and the Public Affairs opportunities ahead.

We are approaching the midpoint for peak season here in southwest Florida. That means we have many chances to make significant progress toward our mission goals for membership, boating safety and vessel exams. I encourage each of you to make the most of this by pitching in a little extra time and helping us out with coverage at the coming boat shows. Just 3 1/2 hours of your time will fill a slot. If you can give more, it would be fantastic. 

Our immediate opportunity is for the Bonita Bay Boat Show on March 2nd thru March 4th. We could use assistance for setup on the March 1st as well.  Please contact me as soon as possible with your choice of date and time. I can be reached at anytime by phone, or by email at gguederian@comcast.net.

Neil Arnal, Vessel Examinations and Program Visitation

We finished January with 15 Vessel Safety Checks on boats and 27 Vessel Safety Check inspections on paddle craft.  Paddle craft means a kayak, canoe, rowboat or paddleboard.  Safety requirements for paddle craft are: sound signal (whistle, horn, etc.), life jacket and overall vessel condition.  We use form 7012 for inspecting paddle craft.

We had two Saturdays in January for Vessel Inspections at Lovers Key Boat Ramp. January 14^th turned out to be a very cold 52 degrees in the morning and no boats showed up but we completed ten VSCs on January 28^th. 

Our Program Visitation team kicked off the year with a meeting at a local coffee house on January 13^th.  Attending were:  Bernie Appelman, Michael Dobrovic, Michael Murphy, Ken Haydon, Dave Shuster and myself.  Everyone at the meeting received a plastic bin stocked with literature to distribute to our Program Partners.  We discussed the proper protocol for our visits, displaying of literature, a list of Program Partners and goals for 2012.

Our flotilla currently has 11 certified Recreational Boating Safety Visitors to call on Program Partners within our area.  With this PV team and monthly coffee meetings to discuss our goals, I believe that we can increase our partner visits substantially.

Larry Urbanek, Member Training

Activities for January in Member Training focused on training two candidates for new coxswain and one candidate for coxswain recertification. One of the new candidates and the recertification should be ready soon for a Qualification Examination (QE). The other new candidate should be ready not long after.

 A new Telecommunications Operator (TCO) class began January 24 and is expected to conclude at the end of February. The end date depends on how soon the scenario training is finished. This class has three new operators and two current watchstanders who can become trainers for future TCO classes. 

We are trying to establish a standard method to use for training with Herman, our man-overboard dummy.  We discussed this at the last operations meeting. Our goal is for everyone involved in on-the-water activities to be able to safely handle man overboard exercises.