Public Education Course Flyer: Boating Skills & Seamanship

The U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary's Boating Skills and Seamanship (BS&S) course is a comprehensive boating course designed for both the experienced and novice boater. The course consists of eight core required two-hour lessons, plus five elective lessons providing knowledge for handling boats under all conditions.

Topics Include

• Which Boat Is For You? – Types of boats, hull design, uses of boats, materials for construction, types of engines, and buying a boat.
• Equipment For Your Boat – Requirements for your boat's equipment, legal considerations, boating accidents, and substance abuse.
• Trailering Your Boat – Choosing a towing vehicle and trailer, balancing the load, the right ball and hitch, launching and retrieving a boat.
• Handling Your Boat – Fueling your boat, single vs. twin propellers, anchoring, trimming, leaving the dock, small boat safety, and weather.
• Highway Signs – Buoyage system, ATONS, light characteristics, chart symbols.
• Rules of the Road – Boating traffic, stand-on and give-way vessels, traffic separation, diver-down rules, anchoring, narrow channels, restricted visibility, small boat safety, and inland waters.
• Introduction To Navigation – Piloting tools, charts, plotting, and compass.
• Powering Your Boat – Types of engines, ignition systems, batteries, and troubleshooting.
• Lines and Knots – Line or rope, materials, measuring, knots, bends, hitches, splicing, securing lines.
• Weather and Boating – Wind and boating, waves, fog, sources of weather information.
• Your Boat's Radio – Functions of radios, selecting you VHF radio, channels, radio procedure, and types of radio calls.