Water Ways Honolulu Star Bulletin (7/04/98) By Ray Pendleton
Safe boating is no accident.
This attention-getting play on words from the Honolulu Power
Squadron really tells it like it is. Safe boating experiences happen when
boaters have learned the necessary skills to competently and properly
operate their vessels.
As an indication of the validity of that statement, recent
statistics show that fewer accidents are caused by boaters who have taken
boating safety classes, hence, many insurance underwriters offer as much as
a 15 percent discount on liability coverage to those who have completed
such courses.
Licencing has also been shown to reduce accidents, but unlike
automobile drivers, recreational boat operators are not yet required to be
licenced. Currently, several states with substantially more boating
congestion than Hawai`i are considering enacting laws to that effect.
Unbelievably, the National Transportation Safety Board estimates
less than 22 percent of the nation's boaters have taken a safe boating
course, and yet the United States Power Squadron - America's largest
private boating organization - has taught more than 3 million students how
to be better boaters.
In an effort to attract boaters, or potential boaters, who have not
been able to find the time for some of its lengthier courses, the Honolulu
Power Squadron has recently announced a new two-session "Boat Smart" course
which will begin on July 11 and end on July 18.
The classes will be held at the Waikiki Yacht Club - near the
Diamond Head entrance to Ala Moana Park - from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. As with
all Power Squadron courses, except for a small charge for study materials,
they are free.
The Boat Smart course, although compressed in time, will cover many
of the subjects found in the Power Squadron's multi-week classes.
There will be lectures and self-study lessons dealing with the
techniques of safe power and sailboat handling, anchoring, basic
knot-tying, chart-reading, course-plotting, compass-reading, and proper
marine radiotelephone procedures. Additionally, the aids to navigation -
buoys, range markers and lights - will be explained in illustrated
lectures.
By spending just two Saturday mornings with the Honolulu Power
Squadron, you could potentially lower your boat's insurance, save damage to
it or to someone else's, and keep yourself and your friends and family out
of harm's way.
The Boat Smart course is open to all who are interested - teenagers
and up - but, the seating is limited, so early enrollment is advised as it
will be on a first-come, first-served basis. You may register by phone by
calling William McGarry at 422-1963.
Should you be in a place to notice - in Lahaina, Kaneohe, Waikiki,
or maybe on a mountain top or an interisland flight - you will start seeing
a lot more sailboats in Hawaiian waters this month.
The 1998 Vic-Maui
Race, sponsored by Coopers and Lybrand, started a
week and a half ago in Victoria, Canada and its fleet should begin arriving
in Lahaina, Maui, next week.
While that race is finishing, the 10th biennial
West Marine Pacific
Cup
- with a record 80-plus boats - will begin pulling into
Kaneohe Yacht Club
from San Francisco.
And last but not least, the 11th biennial Kenwood Cup International
Offshore Series will begin off Waikiki Beach on August 3.
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