A Course for Safe Boating

Contents

Chapter 1  Personal Safety. 3 Personal Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Safety Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Homeland Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Chapter 2  Boating Law, Navigational Rules and Navigational Aids. 19 Boating Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Officer Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Age of Operator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Required Safety Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Alcohol and Operating a Boat. . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Carbon Monoxide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Boat Ownership and Registration. . . . . . . . . . 31 Environmental Laws. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Navigational Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Navigational Aids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Chapter 3  Vessel Operation. 47 The Anatomy of a Boat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Trailering and Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 General Rules: Operating a Boat. . . . . . . . . . . 56 Fueling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Anchoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Know Your Knots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Maintaining Your Boat and Engine. . . . . . . . . . 65 Powerboating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Water Skiing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Diving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Sailing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Paddling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Chapter 4  Personal Watercraft. 87 Anatomy of a Personal watercraft. . . . . . . . . . 88 Safety Equipment and Personal Safety . . . . . . . . 89 Legal Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Operating a PWC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 PWC Navigational Rules and Aids . . . . . . . . . . 96 Accident Prevention and Rescue. . . . . . . . . . . 97 Answers to Review Questions. . . . . . . . . . . 100 Chapter 5  Accident Prevention and Rescue . 101 Environmental Hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Basic Rescue Tips for Water Activities . . . . . . . . 105 Capsizing or Sinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Passenger Overboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Collisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Fires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Grounding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Rescuing Water Skiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Appendices . 120 Appendix A Checklist and Float Plan. . . . . . . . 120 Appendix B California Boating Accident Report. . . . 121 Appendix C Whitewater Class system . . . . . . . . 123 Glossary . 124

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California Boating  A Course for Safe Boating