The Winooski Valley Sail and Power Squadron will be offering the United States Power Squadron Basic Boating Course to the public starting on Thursday March 11, 2010 The course consists of six two hour classes covering boat handling, seamanship, needed equipment, rules of the road, lines and knots, charts, aids to navigation, boat trailering, weather, and more. The course is suitable for boaters from age 12 and up and provides excellent training for boating families. This course satisfies the requirements of Federal and State agencies, Vermont's requirements for boat operators born after January 1, 1974, and frequently qualifies boat owners for reduced insurance premiums.
The course will be taught at the Williston Fire Department on Route 2 in Williston. The first class will be on Thursday March 11 and it will meet for seven consecutive Thursdays (six classes plus a final exam) The final exam will be on Thursday April 22. There will be two more optional classes (Thursday April 22 and Thursday May 6) covering piloting (chart navigation) There is a cost of $30 for the textbook. Additional family members sharing a book can take the course for a cost of $5.
The instructor for the spring 2010 course is Peter Brownell. Please feel free to contact him at 802-399-2567 (or peter@peterbrownell.com) to sign up for the course or if you have any questions.
VERMONT STATE POLICE BOATING COURSES
The Vermont State Police teaches a safe boating course and also maintains a listing of other boating safety courses which will be taught this summer. You can see a listing of these courses by clicking --> here
You can take an on-line version of the Vermont State Boating Safety Course. You don't get the value of a face-to-face interaction with an instructor and other students but it does satisfy the requirements for boaters born after Jan 1, 1974. You can access the course website by clicking --> here <--.
Continuing boating education is a big benefit of Power Squadron Membership. The Squadron offers a range of other courses such as Seamanship, Piloting, Advanced Piloting, Junior Navigation, Navigation, Weather, Cruise Planning , Sail, and Engine Maintenance and more. Typically we like to take advantage of the glorious summers for boating and use the winters to improve our boating skills thru fall and spring classes. Please click --> here to see a detailed description of our other courses.