Boating Safety And Seamanship Class
For Port of Los Angeles Boat Operators

by Tony Ashlin , Flotilla 33 Commander, D11-SR

Class and instructors of the Boating Safety and Seamanship course at the Port of Los Angeles facility on graduation day.

Front Row: Terrance Cashner, John Radovcich, Jamill Fernandez, Rudy Gonzalez, Charles Smith Second Row: Steve Mangold, Auxiliarist Bob Vatz, Tim Clark, Nikola Jurat, Auxiliarist David Shieh , Alvin Jackson, Shou Yu Shao, Dave Bickel, Algernon "Kieth" Wimberly, John Rice, Daniel Case, Daniel Jimenez, Shawn Olson, Joe Maldonado, Steve Renteria, Auxiliarist Ned Ricter , Auxiliarist Everett Harper Third Row: Rafael Diaz, Stephen James, Ervin Govic, Gerd Roesner, Jacqueline Powell, Frank Comfort , Dory Boyd (in the rear), Gerard Aque

The Port of Los Angeles is one of the busiest ports in the world and handles 169 million tons of cargo valued at $190 billion per year. This busy port has a fleet of boats that serves in the maintenance of facilities and removal of hazards to navigation from the water.

Director of Port Construction and Maintenance, Mr. Jim Morgan, realized that personnel under him were operating with little or no boating safety knowledge he called the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Auxiliarist Robert Vatz, of Flotilla 33 in Long Beach, CA, received the call. He explained to Mr. Morgan one of the newest Auxiliary recreational boating safety classes, “About Boating Safely.” He explained that the course could be taught to his crew in a couple of four hour, Saturday morning sessions.

Mr. Morgan set up a meeting with Auxiliarists Vatz and Gary Norgaard, Division 3 Public Education Staff Officer. The purpose of the meeting was to visit the Port facility training room. This is where Mr. Morgan wanted his employees to be taught during a couple of work week afternoons. Mr. Morgan inquired if a team of Coast Guard Auxiliary instructors could teach the more intensive Boating Safety and Seamanship (BS&S).

Auxiliarists Norgaard and Vatz enlisted a team of instructors from District 11-SR. – The team from Division 3 included Division Commander Everett Harper, Auxiliarists Ned Richter, Flotilla 38 and Flotilla 33 Commander Tony Ashlin. The team met and divided up the BS&S book and each were assigned to teach one or two chapters. It was also agreed that the team would divide the knot segment from the course.

The five week class took place on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons during the months of September and October.

On the first day of the BS&S seminar, Mr. Morgan held his USCG Auxiliary Boating Safety and Seamanship Diploma for all the class to see. He explained to the room of 27 students and instructors that he had a Captain's license and various other diplomas but this was the only certificate that he had hung on his office wall.

The classroom was well equipped with a giant screen video monitor. The instructors took full advantage of the media tools and incorporated Power Point presentations, audio/visuals of boating accidents, an America's Waterway Watch video and an actual recording of an emergency radio broadcast of a boat taking on water.

To show the importance of being able to communicate a distress call to the Coast Guard, the class was asked to write down the information heard on the recording and afterwards they discussed what they would have done if they were in the same boat.

The class had an opportunity to examine and evaluate a variety of life jackets. They were also shown a variety of emergency distress signal devices that crew certified Auxiliarists pack in their life jackets. The students were also shown how to use a signal mirror and distress flares.

The class was also briefed on how to handle emergencies and put out of fires. The Pull, Aim, Press, and Sweep (PASS) method of using an extinguisher was demonstrated. In addition to this, a two man technique for extinguishing fires, which is taught by local Fire Departments, was passed along to the class.

When two people are available to put out a fire, it is recommended that one person place his hand on the shoulder of the extinguisher operator and stand behind at an arms length. This second person is to watch for any low hanging bulk heads that might injure the person who is concentrating on putting out the fire. A communications system using the terms, “going in” and “coming out” so that the two firefighters can move in unison as they put out the flames.

Yellowboat operators that patrol the waters in the Port of Los Angeles are responsible for retrieving floating hazards to navigation and maintaining port facilities. All crew members recently took a Boating Safety and Seamanship.

One of the responsibilities of the Port employees is to pick up drifting logs that might be reported by recreational boaters. The instruction team displayed and demonstrated the applications of various knots and how to select the best knot for the job. One such knot that could be used in this scenario was the timber hitch and, although it was not part of the syllabus of the course, the team thought it best to show the class how this knot could be used for securing logs.

In order to provide assistance to recreational boaters who might immediately need it on the water, the instructors discussed how the Coast Guard Auxiliarists perform man over board and towing evolution with special emphasis on the need to keep a crew member assigned on the tow watch.

Within a few weeks, the twenty-seven Port of Los Angeles employees completed the course and took their final exams. All of the students passed and were awarded their BS&S certificates. Copies of the certificates of were included in their personnel files.

When the Port employs five or more new boat operators it was mutually agreed that another Auxiliary BS&S class would be provided.

~HRW