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Sail and Power Boating  Boating is fun..We'll show you how DISTRICT 28
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Sail and Power Boating Boating is fun..We'll show you how DISTRICT 28
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The number of activities that the D28 squadrons put together since last Spring have been awesome – Courses, Seminars, Cruises and Rendezvous, National Safe Boating Week, Vessel Safety Checks, Cooperative Charting work, On-the-Water training in Piloting and Advance Piloting classes, and Boat Operator Certification. From 1 September ’08 to 31st August ’09, forty-two members completed Advance Grades and eighty members’ Elective courses. And not to forget the fun and fellowship at BBQs, Potlucks, etc. The district and squadron newsletter editors are doing an excellent communication job, through a distinguished set of award-winning newsletters: D28’s Lead Line (Lee Whitehead, SN), Balboa’s Trident (Peter Redwood, SN), Lake Mohave’s No-Wake Zone (Andy Pensavalle), Phoenix’s Bos’n’s Pipe (Lee Whitehead, SN), San Diego’s Ship’s Mail (Daniel Nephew), and San Luis Rey’s Mariner’s Needle (Jill Powell, P). The same can be said of the outstanding job the webmasters are performing. At D28, Bob Schloeman, JN), Balboa (Peter Redwood, SN), Lake Mohave ( Bob Schloeman, JN), Phoenix (Bill Johnson, JN), San Diego (Diann Nephew), San Luis Rey ( Al Donlevy, AP). All of these activities could not happen without the participation of a large number of volunteers of the D28 squadrons, demonstrating the vitality of our organization. Thank you for all that made all these wonderful fun and learning opportunities possible.
In the words of the NEO Bob Sweet, in response to my Open Letter to National: “district structure is more important than ever. We need regional presence to relieve burden and overlap facing squadrons. Promoting USPS should be more regional and coordinated. So should offering courses. We have found that a “slate” of program offerings gains far more attention and attendance than singular, ad hoc offerings from individual squadrons.” To learn more about D28 squadrons and their people, and to foster the ideas of a more regional district organization I made visits to some of our squadrons. I made a point, at the meetings I attended, to talk about the USPS University programs, and the importance of its implementation across al squadrons of the District 28. My goal is to have all squadrons being the Campus of the USPS University.
I participated in squadron meetings of Balboa, San Diego, and of my own squadron – San Luis Rey. It was a great fun to attend the Katherine Landing Inland Rendezvous at Lake Mohave.. There was a good D28 representation at the Rendezvous, including members from San Diego, San Luis Rey, Balboa, Phoenix, and Lake Mohave squadrons. Thank you to Cdr Andy Pensavalle, of Lake Mohave, Cdr Allan Bombard, of San Diego, Cdr Miguel Ramirez, of South Bay, Cdr Mark Thompson, Balboa, and Cdr Loie Powell, San Luis Rey, and their teams for their warm welcome at their meetings. I also attended the yearly July San Luis Rey Barbeque, at Buddy Todd Park. The San Luis Rey barbecue is a well-attended yearly event that congregates a large number of San Luis Rey and D28 members and family. I was joined there by P/D/C Katie Law and P/D/C Bill Bridge, from San Diego, P/D/C Lou Loth and D/Lt/C Mark Keltner and wife Lynne, from Balboa. Thanks to Cdr Loie Powell and the SLRSPS team.
The first District meeting, the District Summer Council, was held at South Bay Squadron. It was very well attended Its rich agenda included an abbreviated presentation of the new “Anchoring” seminar , presented by DEO Bill Bridge, SN and a very informative seminar about Coop Charting, by P/C Steven Bakalis, SN. To include training on the new USPS Seminars in all District meetings was one of the requests made by the squadron commanders at the first D28 Bridge meeting last march. South Bay members were hosts to the July Summer Council meeting at Chula Vista YC, which Lt/C Susan Johnson, their Administrative Officer, and her team organized with great success. District members attending this event were unanimous in their praise for South Bay work.
My District vision - the implementation of the USPS University ( Courses, Seminars, Boat Operator Certification, On-the-Water training) is underway in all squadrons. The Seminar series is a refreshing addition to the regular USPS courses. It contains an amazing array of topics that are taught mostly in two hours. This provides an opportunity for members and public alike to brush up their knowledge, with topics like Using Charts and GPS, Radar, Anchoring, Trailering, and many others, without having to seat in, for many weeks, in a regular course. The Seminars series should attract experienced boaters to update their boating knowledge. It might help to attract to membership experienced boaters that might not be interested to the Public Boating course and might help in the retention of squadron members.
Another important item of the USPS University is the Boat Operator Certification (BOC) program. One of my goals is to have the BOC program in all squadrons in operation by the Spring Conference.. There are several certification levels: Inland Navigator, Coastal and Advance Coastal, and Offshore. The Inland Navigator Certificate includes an On-the-Water skill test that is to be administered by Advance Certifiers. Advance Certifiers (AC) are responsible to train and test the Boat handling skill requirement of the Inland Navigator Certification and be BOC champions. We need to have AC in all squadrons. For that purpose I organized AC training in July and early August.. Trainers were the BOC National Committee Chair, R/C Jack Fletcher and Regional Certifier, Darrel Sausser. San Luis Rey is pioneering the Boat Operator Certification program in D28 with eight of their members signed up to get the Inland Navigator Certificate.
On-the-Water (OTW) training in the regular training courses, an important new addition to the well-being of the USPS organization, has being included in some squadron courses. The Ensign published recently an article I submitted about the inclusion of on-the-water training in the Piloting course. Cruises are, perhaps, one of the most important safe boating learning tools. In July, I organized San Luis Rey cruise to Coastal harbors and Catalina.. We sailed most of the day and motor-sailed during the night, arriving at the entrance of the San Diego ship channel a bit before sunrise. The night sail was wonderful, with clear sky, illuminated by the new moon, millions of stars, even the Milky Way was visible, a sight you never see the urban land. As I reminisce about the cruise, the thought comes to mind that Squadron cruises offer our members an excellent opportunity to put into practice what was learned in the classroom., in Cruise Planning, P and AP, GPS, etc .In addition, there is the sharing the experiences of more seasoned cruise members. San Luis Rey is planning to include a short cruise, OTW, as part of the Cruise Planning course.
These are times of big changes in USPS. We need these changes otherwise USPS may not survive. In a recent letter, P/C Wes Heuser, Balboa SEO and the D28 VSC champion, sent me results of a poll he did among one hundred (100) trailer boaters.. The poll was related to name recognition of the following boating organizations: USCG, USCGAux, Sea Scouts, Orange Coast College of Sailing and Seamanship, and USPS. Results: USCG 100%, USCGAux 95%, Sea Scouts 60%, Orange County College 62%, and our own USPS 10%!!! I hope that the new directions described below, will include a comprehensive marketing and PRO program, and a name change to better reflect what we do. The new directions that are being discussed are changes from a dues based organization to a more market focused one. That means, USPS needs to adapt to what current and future members want and ways to attract more of the boating public to USPS programs. Less and less inexperienced boaters are coming to our public Boating classes. Now there are a number of web places where you can take the basic Boating course online, Boat US is one of them where you can even print your certificate. The new Seminar series, as previously mentioned, has the purpose to attract the experienced boaters and retain our own members. USPS wants to sell their education programs to a wider audience than its own members, since that is what helps fund what the organization does. The more that USPS can get in educational sales, the less stress there will be on member dues. I gave my inputs and comments to the proposed new directions in an Open Letter to that National Bridge and shared it with all District Commanders. I will be going to the Governing Board meeting in Kansas City to represent D28 in these important changes. I will be reporting them to you at the Fall Conference.
My special thanks for all of you that contribute to the success of D/28 and make it the best non-profit seamanship and navigation learning organization of the country, with a boating club atmosphere. My thanks also to my Bridge, that helped make my job so much easier.
We hope to see you at the District Fall Conference, in San Diego.
This page last updated October 11, 2009
