Coast Guard Auxiliary Reports
Coast Guard Auxiliarists on the water for testing of skills.
Making sure boaters are safe, ensuring buoys and other aids to navigation are accurate, and looking out for pollution on the water are some of the jobs that US Coast Guard Auxiliarists do here in the St Marks and Apalachee Bay area. Because we Auxiliarists provide much of the Coast Guard presence in our area, we have to train like our active-duty counterparts.
Auxiliarists can participate in our Boat Crew program as either a Coxswain (small boat commander), or as a Crewmember. But certification for both is not easy. Candidates must train for months in class and on the water before they can sit before a Qualified Examiner, who tests them in a board setting, then on the water. Once qualified, crew then are retested every three years. We conducted a Qualification Examination on Saturday, October 21 at the Coast Guard Station Destin.
Active Duty and Auxiliarist Qualified Examiners tested one Coxswain and three crewmembers for their three year requalification. The had to demonstrate knot tying, chartwork and answer seamanship questions in a board setting. Once they passed their shoreside examination, it was five hours on the water to demonstrate their skills in daylight, then again when darkness set it.
We have to be ready any time, even when dark or bad weather. All four passed their examination and will now continue to keep boaters safe.
Thanks to Sherrie, we will always remember safe boating is no accident.
If you would like to learn more about vessel safety checks, please contact Steve Hults, Staff Officer for Vessel Examinations at steve.hults@uscgaux.net.
Please contact us for more information about our safe boating classes or learning more about getting involved in the Auxiliary, check out our website at www.uscgaux.net follow us on FaceBook @ Apalachee Bay Flotilla 12 or contact our Flotilla Commander Phil Hill at pnkkhill2000@yahoo.com.
Please contact us to learn more about getting involved in the Auxiliary, check out our website at www.uscgaux.net follow us on FaceBook @ Apalachee Bay Flotilla 12 or contact our Flotilla Commander Phil Hill at pnkkhill2000@yahoo.com
The Coast Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed civilian volunteer component of the U.S. Coast Guard and supports the Coast Guard in nearly all mission areas. The Auxiliary was created by Congress in 1939. For more information, please visit www.cgaux.org.