ment in Florida and most southern states and also gives boaters of all ages a solid grounding (no pun intended) in boating safety. Other organizations offer other courses which will satisfy the Florida requirements. The About Boating Safely (ABS) covers subjects including boat handling, weather, charts, navigation rules, trailering, federal regulations, personal watercraft, hypothermia and more. Many insurance companies also give discounts for having taken the boater safety education course. Completion of courses qualifies attendees for Florida’s boater safety card. The following are ABS courses (with asterisks **): **Ongoing — Jacksonville, FL. Mike Christnacht. (904) 502-9154. Classes held in 2013 on May 18, Sept. 14 and Oct. 5. Go to www.uscgajaxbeach.com for the schedule, location
Boat Rental, Charter Company, Sailing Club Information Wanted Beach Cats, Sunfish, etc. – Small Boat Rental Companies Bareboats and Captained Charter Companies SOUTHWINDS is compiling a list for our website of all the charter and boat rental companies, including sailing clubs in the Bahamas and in the Southeast U.S.—in the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. For small boat rentals, this includes beach cats, sunfish, trimarans, windsurfers, kite sailing, sailing kayaks—any small sailboat rental in a private business, sailing club or community organization. For charter companies, this includes bareboat and captained charter companies and sailing clubs, including for the day and overnight, whether long-term or shortterm, and for any size boat. All above includes inland and on the coast. Email your information to editor@southwindsmagazine. com.
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and to register. **Ongoing — Ruskin, FL, Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 75 Offers Home Study Safe Boating Course. Each month. The flotilla has found that many boaters do not have the time to attend the courses, so they are now also offering a home study course at $30. Additional family members will be charged $10 each for testing and certificates. Tests held bimonthly. Entry into the course allows participants to attend the classes. To apply, call (813) 677-2354. **St. Augustine, FL. Ongoing. About Boating Safely. Sponsored by the Coast Guard Auxiliary of St. Augustine, FL, the eight-hour course is held at the St. Augustine campus of St. Johns River State College, 2900 College Drive (off State Road 16). Preregistration required by contacting Vic Aquino at (904) 460-0243. The course is offered 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on May 4, Aug. 3, Sept. 7, and Nov. 2. A course called “Suddenly in Command” is a boating safety primer designed for those not generally at the helm to help them to be prepared with the basics in the event of an emergency, such as the captain becoming incapacitated. This course is offered from 1:00 to 4:30 on June 1. For more information on all courses, go to wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=070-14-07. US SAILING COURSES IN THE SOUTHEAST (NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX) For more on course locations, contact information, course descriptions and prerequisites, go to http://training.ussailing.org/Course_Calendars.htm, or call (401) 683-0800, ext. 644. Check the website, since courses are often added late and after press date. US SAILING Level 1 Small Boat Instructor Course, Southeast, May and June The US SAILING Small Boat Sailing Level 1 Instructor Course is designed to provide sailing instructors with information on how to teach more safely, effectively and cre-
Youth Sailing Programs and Yacht Club Directory
AVAILABLE ONLINE — Search for or Update Your Program and Club
Going live on April 1 (this is no April Fools joke!), this new FREE online directory by SOUTHWINDS lists Youth Sailing Programs and Yacht Clubs and Sailing Associations in the Southeast U.S. Previously printed in the April issue, we found that most youth programs hadn’t made final decisions on their summer programs by the March 1 deadline, so we decided to create an online directory where program organizers can update their programs, whether summer programs or year-around programs, any day of the year on their own. Every program
gets its own page with room for photos, schedules, general information, youth ages accepted, rates, contact info, links to Facebook and more. For those looking for programs, you can search by name, location or miles from a zip code. The 2012 programs are listed, and program organizers can register an ac-
count, claim their listing and update it. Or new programs can be added. We also added a yacht club directory, listing all the clubs that were on the main SOUTHWINDS site. Clubs can claim these listings and also get their own page to add photos, general information, contact info, links to Facebook and more.
To update your youth program or club, go to www.southwindsmagazine.info, or you can access it through the SOUTHWINDS main site at www.southwindsmagazine.com. 14
May 2013
SOUTHWINDS
www.southwindsmagazine.com