Ticonderoga students complete boat safety course

Ticonderoga students who successfully completed the Coast Guard boating safety course pose with instructors William Doyle and Commander Eugene Frost.

As of Wednesday, June 20, 2012 -3:51 p.m.

Ticonderoga — Members of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 15/13 will offer a federal safe boating class Saturday, June 30, beginning at 8 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall of the United Methodist Church of Ticonderoga. The Class will last through 5 p.m.

The class will familiarize the boater with safe boating practices, navigation principles, electronics, paddle craft and personal water craft operation and safety. The class offered by the USCG Auxiliary meets and exceeds all federal requirements for small boat operation, as well as PWC operation for children under the age of 17.

This federally certified class is recognized in all 50 states and is part of the mandate for safe, informed, boating practices across the country. The class can provide a savings on many boat insurance programs. It is open to children age 10 and older.

The class costs $35 a person or $45 for a couple sharing the same book. Snacks and lunch will be provided. To register call Eugene H. Frost, commander of United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 15-13, at 585-9034 or Staff Officer David Iuliano at 585-7030.

Flotilla 15/13 has been at the forefront in offering and providing federal state boating classes to the children as well as open classes to the public.

Frost has announced that his unit instructors have completed a boating safety course at Ticonderoga Middle School.

Each student who passes the final exam earns a certificate and a pocket card required in New York to operate a personal water craft or wave runner, as well as various other power boats.

Frost maintains that most boating fatalities happen because boaters lack the knowledge necessary to operate these vessels safely and fail to follow the proper procedures when an emergency occurs. He said course graduates are much more knowledgeable at the end of this course and far better prepared for a lifetime of safe boating.

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