Welcome to the Ponce de Leon Inlet Sail & Power Squadron Blog posting on late-breaking important news events, latest member & public boating education courses offered, and special activities of interest to both our members and non-member website visitors.

One of the best ways to have a fun boating experience is to “know before you go”. If you are a new boater or an experienced boater in need of a refresher course, you should consider taking this course.

Remember, any person under the age of 22 must have a “license” to run a boat and completion of this course will give a certificate from the United States Power Squadrons and the State of Florida.

April 7, 2012 America’s Boating Course – Saturday 8:30 AM -4:00 PM (Bring a lunch) Marine Discovery Center Annex – Indian River Lagoon Park, 667 Sandpiper Ave., New Smyrna Beach. Exam following Saturday, 21 April -9:00 AM (about an hour) Cost: class – $50 registration: $10 Due by Monday, 17 October (balance of $40 due at class). The fee includes a manual and a MapTech CD. Course is limited to 25 People.

Registration form: (Please print)

Names: __________________________________________________________________

Address __________________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip _____________________________________________________________

Telephone _______________ Email ____________________________________________
Mail with check (made out to: Ponce Power Squadron) to: Bill Myers, Boating Course Chairman – 224 Los Demas, Edgewater, FL 32141

This 2 hour seminar, open to members and the interested public, will be conducted at Saxon Park in New Smyrna Beach, FL beginning 0900  March 31st, 2012.

Why Take An “Emergencies on Board” Seminar? In just two short hours you will learn why and how to: • Prevent accidents • Make emergency calls and signals • Deal with runing aground • Handle a man overboard situation • Put out fires on board • Deal with losing power • Deal with medical conditions • Deal with steering failures • Deal with getting lost

This seminar is designed to prepare the prudent skipper for those unfortunate situations involving accidents and emergencies on board. It will provide the skipper with the information to prepare adequately for common emergencies and how to actually deal with them when they occur. Topics such as preventing accidents, running aground, fire, getting lost, towing, medical conditions, as well as other often-encountered emergencies are covered. The seminar comes with the Emergencies on Board Quick Guide—a handy reference to use in responding to emergency situations.

Each student also receives a full color Student Guide for the seminar. Price for the course and materials is $25.

Advance Piloting (AP) – following the Piloting Class we want to go right into Advance Piloting while all that good information you just learned is fresh in your mind.

Officer Training (OT) – Following that, we want to do an OT class for our newer members as well as for you old salts.

If there is a particular class you would like to take, call me and we’ll put something together.

P/C Robert D. Johnson, AP

GPS has become a common tool for navigation. However using GPS on the water is distinctly different from a moving map display in your car. This seminar explains the principles of waypoint navigation which you will use. It then shows you how to relate the GPS to your charts which provide essential information about what is around you.

The seminar also shows you how to operate your GPS – what the buttons do, what the screens show, and how to access the functions you need. A handheld GPS is used as the demonstration model, but all GPS receivers function similarly. By the time you have completed the seminar, you will be able to store waypoints into your GPS, activate them for navigation, and use GPS to keep you on a safe, pre-qualified course of your choosing. You’ll also get some tips for choosing a GPS if you don’t currently own one. You will get a copy of the waterproof McGraw-Hill Captain’s Quick Guide Using GPS to take aboard to remind you of the steps, or to show another of your crew how to use your GPS.

See the trifold brochure (789KB, PDF) for more information.

This seminar covers how radar functions, radar selection, operation of the radar under various conditions including setting of controls, display interpretation, basic navigation, and collision avoidance using radar. The kit includes The Radar Book written by Kevin Monahan ($25 retail) and Student Notes with copies of slides.

See the trifold brochure (1579KB, PDF) for more information.

1) I’ve given talks to those that primarily use the Itnracoastal Waterways. A typical need for these boaters is to know the timing of thunderstorms. be. One tool is to use the Aviation Forecast. Yes, that is correct! These forecasts are very site specific and updated more frequently than the marine forecast.

So if you want to know the approximate timing of storms when you are fishing near the Route 60 bridge east of Vero Beach, you could look at the Aviation forecast for Vero Beach Municipal Airport (KVRB). Off our homepage along the left side, select Aviation Weather. Again on the left side of this page under Forecasts scroll over TAF/FA and select TAF Request Forms. Type KVRB into the selection box (switch to “Translated” if desired). Other coastal Aviation Forecasts are at Daytona Beach (KDAB), Melbourne (KMLB), Patrick Air Force Base (KCOF) and the Shuttle Landing Facility (KTTS).

If you fish on inland lakes you may want to check out these Aviation Forecasts for Orlando International Airport (KMCO), Kissimmee (KISM), Sanford (KSFB), and Leesburg (KLEE).

2) Another tool to get wind speed and direction changes is the GFS Lamp Forecast (LAMP stands for Local Aviation MOS Product). This is updated automatically almost every hour, but will not include wind changes that occur due to thunderstorms.

The Wind Direction is in the WDR row and below it is the wind speed.

Changing KVRB in the address bar to any of the other airports mentioned above will give you the LAMP forecast for that site.

For those who prefer a graphical “meteogram” depiction, use this link.

There is a link to an aviation forecast meteogram that some might like.

Randy Lascody
NWS Melbourne

Nearest Light takes care of that problem by utilizing the Light List that is now published in XML form, and searching that list for all the lights in your current area, using a GPS receiver connected to your computer (or a manual position), sorting that list, and showing you all the lights nearest to your position while out on the water. The light list provides additional detail which is not noted on a chart. Discrepancies can be more accurately noted in real time and, when the chart does not match a light list entry that is a discrepancy that can be reported as a CCWEB nautical chart item.

When preparing for a CoCh survey, Nearest Light can be used to find all the lights in the likely survey area and then to print the resulting table for inclusion with the survey worksheets. This lets everyone have the relevant portion of the Light List on hand for reference while surveying, improving the accuracy of CoCh reports to CCWEB and the USCG.

Manual
http://usps.oceaneye.com/downloads/Nearest Light Manual v2.pdf

Application
http://usps.oceaneye.com/downloads/nearestlight2/publish.htm

This easy to use program was developed by Clint O’Connor, SN, Austin Power Squadron, District 21.
Thank you, Clint!