Coast Guard to offer boating class out of Braintree to reduce boating fatalities

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent

The US Coast Guard Auxiliary will offer two boating courses in Braintree this season for both novice and experienced boaters in an effort to reduce accidents on the water.

The instruction has been offered for years, but is more important now than ever, said flotilla Commander Matthias Mulvey.

“Massachusetts had 11 deaths last year in our waters,” Mulvey said. “[People] don’t understand what risk they are taking on, not just for them, but for whoever is on their boat.”

Massachusetts is one of the few states in this area that don't require any sort of training for people on the water.

In New Hampshire, for example, boaters are required to take a basic training class before even putting a boat in the waters of Lake Winnipesauke. Not so in these parts, and as a result, only approximately 5 percent of the people who are navigating Massachusetts’s shores have any kind of training.

It’s a scary thought, Mulvey said.

“If we can educate these people, they can protect themselves and it’s less work for us to do…it’s like drivers ed. We go over everything from putting the boat into the water, how to pilot it, maintain it, things a lot of people don’t know. They buy something, put it in the water, and go and hit the rocks,” Mulvey said.

Anybody above the age of 10, from any community, is encouraged to take the class. Relatives of boaters should even be trained in case something happens to the boat owner while it’s being operated out at see.

“We’d want somebody who’s on the boat to use a radio or somehow navigate the boat,” Mulvey said. “Yesterday I took a call from someone who is bringing his son to the training course.”

The goal is to get training courses such as these required in Massachusetts, he said. It would help boaters navigate the generally narrow waterways in the state, and keep people’s investments in pristine condition.

Even kayakers and canoe users should take the course.

“You’d be surprised the amount of people paddling about Boston Harbor, and a significant amount don’t have any safety equipment, have no way of signaling - especially if it's dark out. We’re trying to engage people in basic training,” Mulvey said. “I’ve even seen people cutting across shipping channels in kayaks!”

Mulvey said he was on watch around Boston Light, and saw a lady paddling in a small kayak in the cargo route. People don’t realize that big boats can’t see little kayakers, and even if they did, it would take them miles to be able to stop, he said.

“If you went back 10 years, you might see someone at Castle Island kayaking around the shore. Now they are crossing to another island. It’s a significant danger, and if they don’t know what they are doing, it could be fatal,” Mulvey said.

If the state does make the training mandatory, the Coast Guard would amp up additional training, offering courses in intensive navigation and other more advanced boating practices.

The courses are run entirely by volunteers, and people who have taken the class previously have said it was worth the money and the time.

“Some people have been on boats their whole life, and a lot of things these people didn’t know....Everyone comes away with learning something. The ones who just bought their boat, they come away with knowledge and they are ahead of the game,” Mulvey said.

The two courses are offered on Tuesday/Thursdays or on Sundays. The Tuesday/Thursday classes go from Feb. 28 through April 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. and cost $55. The classes will be held at the Braintree Yacht Club.

Sunday course goes from March 18 through May 20 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Metropolitan Yacht Club in Braintree. The cost is $50.

Pre-Registration is encouraged as classes tend to fill quickly. For more information, contact either of the following and register by February 18: L. William Fuller, FSO-PE at 781-848-2906, or Mulvey at 781-331-0043.