Safety in Numbers
(from "The Ensign," the national magazine of the US Power Squadrons, May, 1998)

To fulfill the objectives of USPS, local squadrons offer a variety of public safe boating classes throughout the year. These courses familiarize students with equipment, government regulations, the rules of the road, the mariner's compass, aids to navigation, charts, piloting and shipboard customs.

However, the basic classes only scratch the surface of the subject. To dig deeper, USPS provides "Advanced Grades," five additional carefully planned courses of study in Seamanship, Piloting, Advanced Piloting, Junior Navigation and Navigation - offered exclusively for members - supplemented by a number of additional elective courses and home-study course materials.

Advanced Grades

Seamanship (S)

Seamanship deals with taking care of your boat and keeping it safe. Subjects include:
- different types of boats and their use and application
- equipment required by law for safety and comfort
- conditions affecting handling boats under power
- the principles of sailing anchoring, mooring, docking and undocking
- boat handling under adverse conditions, and
- personnel relations afloat.

This course gives students:
- background information they would otherwise acquire only by long experience on the water,
- understanding of the forces involved when operating a power- or sailboat, and
- practical solutions for problems they will encounter sooner or later afloat.

Piloting (P)

This course deals entirely with plotting, charting and reviewing the mariner's compass with particular emphasis on course conversion. How long it will take to get from point A to point B, at what speed and whether you will have sufficient fuel to make it are important considerations. Safety comes first, embarrassment second.

Advanced Piloting (AP)

AP students become further acquainted with charts and chart work. Instruction in laying courses and determining position by bearings, angles and soundings is given. Students are introduced to the various government publications of value to pilots, the problems involved in computing the height of tides and the strength of currents, and how to work out these problems by referring to tide and current tables. Boaters do not want to be dismasted when sailing beneath high-rise bridges at high tide or go around when attempting to exit a channel at low tide.

Junior Navigation (JN)

The Junior Navigation course gives students a working knowledge of dead-reckoning principles and introduces them to determining position at sea by celestial observation. This introductory celestial navigation work includes lessons on: time, the Nautical Almanac, the coordination of celestial bodies, star identification, the solution of the astronomical triangle for azimuth and intercept by one method, and the practical use of the sextant. In short, you learn how to know your position.

Navigation (N)

Navigation helps students develop greater skill in taking sights and increased precision in position finding, and it also gives them insight and schooling in the principles underlying the practical work. Starting with the basic concepts and definitions of nautical astronomy, the course covers the systems of coordinates employed in describing the positions of celestial bodies, lines of position, meridian altitudes, star identification, the solution of the astronomical triangle, and computing sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset.

Together, these last three advanced-grade courses (AP, JN and N) teach you how to know your position safely without electronic aids. This knowledge is your backup in an emergency, particularly when electronics fail and you need to immediately determine your position at sea.

USPS awards the grade of "Senior Navigator" (SN) to members who have successfully passed all advanced grades and elective courses offered by USPS. This designation is also referred to as "Full Certificate," indicating the member's course completion certificate is full.

Elective Courses

In addition to advanced grades, squadrons also offer elective courses to all USPS members. These courses include Engine Maintenance, Marine Electronics, Sail, Weather, Instructor Qualification and Cruise Planning. Here's a brief review of what each course offers from a safety perspective.

Engine Maintenance (EM)

Engine Maintenance strives to make boat owners more self-reliant afloat. It teaches about engine malfunctions, the threat and development of fires, and how to handle other engine-related emergencies. Diagnosing engine trouble is also emphasized. If you can diagnose your engine, you might be able to get your boat safely back to the dock without a tow.

Marine Electronics (ME)

This course instructs boat operators about the correct, legal and most effective uses of marine communications. The course leaches how to make boating safer using VHF radio, radar. loran-C and GPS.

Sail (Sa)

The Sail course includes many topics to improve your sailing safety, including sailboat handling, the balance of hull and sails, stability, sailing in heavy weather, and managing rigging and sails. Special importance is placed on using safety harnesses when going forward on deck out of the cockpit. Being pitched out of the cockpit in unsettled seas is decidedly unsafe.

Weather (W)

This course fosters a safety awareness of weather phenomena, equips students to read the weather map and the sky, and enables them to understand and anticipate weather developments. This knowledge will help them decide whether or not to go boating.

Instructor Development (ID)

After taking and teaching the Boating Course, you will become much more cognizant of the safety factors prevalent in the course.

Cruise Planning (CP)

Whether you're planning a three-month cruise to the islands or a weekend cruise to a squadron rendezvous, planning and preparation can make the cruise safer and less frustrating. "Know before you go," a safe-boating theme of years past, aptly describes this course.

It's true: The more courses you study, the more your awareness of safety grows.
There can be tangible financial rewards, as well: members generally enjoy significant discounts on boat insurance products.

Memorandum of Agreement Between BSA Sea Scouts and USPS

To view or download the MOA, click here.