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2
California Boating
A Course for Safe Boating
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
Contents