America's Boating Course - ABC 3

Date: Tuesdays, April 4 to May 2, 2023. 4 sessions plus the test.

Time: 6:45pm to 9:00pm

Where: On ZOOM, login information provided after registration.

Materials: ABC Boating Course Book

 Cost: ASPS members Free, $10.00 for Non Members, Book Printed or E-Book $28.00

Instructors: 1st/Lt Patrick McGeehan, P and Stf/C Michael Maszczenski, N

Register for this course:  Register Here

Everyone born after July 1972 needs the Boating Safety Course card to legally operate a recreation vessel in Maryland waters. Great family course! After passing the test with an 80% or higher, you are awarded the card verifying that you have passed the course and can legally operate a recreational vessel in Maryland.

  Course Description: The basic boating knowledge topics include:

• Introduction to Boating: types of boats - power, sail, outboards, paddle boats, and houseboats. Also, different uses of boats, various power boating engines, jet drives, and family boating basics.
  

• Boating Law: boat registration, boating regulation, hull identification number, required boat safety equipment, operating safely and reporting accident, protecting the marine environment, Federal boat law, state boating law, personal watercraft requirements.
  

• Boat Safety Equipment: personal flotation devices (life jackets), fire extinguishers, sound-producing devices, visual distress signals, dock lines and rope, first aid kit, anchors and anchor lines, and other boating safety equipment.
  

• Safe Boating: bow riding, alcohol and drug abuse, entering, loading, and trimming a boat, fueling portable and permanent tanks, steering with a tiller and a wheel, docking, undocking and mooring, knots, filing a float plan, checking equipment, fuel, weather and tides, using charts, choosing and using an anchor, safe PWC handling, and general water safety.
  

• Navigation: the U.S. Aids to Navigation system - types of buoys and beacons, navigation rules (sometimes referred to as right-of-way rules), avoiding collisions, sound signals, PWC "tunnel vision."
  

• Boating Problems: hypothermia, boating accidents and rescues, man overboard recovery, capsizing, running aground, river hazards, strainers: emergency radio calls, engine problems, equipment failures, carbon monoxide (CO), other boating and PWC problems.
  

• Trailering, Storing and Protecting Your Boat: types of trailers, trailer brakes, lights, hitches, tires, and bearings, loading, balancing, and towing (and backing) a trailer, boat launching and retrieving, boat storage and theft protection, launching, retrieving and storing a PWC.
  

• Hunting and Fishing, Water-Skiing and River Boating: carrying hunting gear and weapons in a boat, fishing from a boat, water-skiing safety guidelines and hand signals, water-skiing with a PWC, navigating rivers, and other boating tips.
  

Marine Navigation

Title: Marine Navigation - New Piloting Replacement

Where: Zoom

Cost: ASPS Members Free Non Members $10.0, Book $55.00 printed or E-book

Dates: January 10, 2023 to March 21, 2023, 7:00 to 9:00 PM

Register for this course:  Register Here

Cost: Registration ASPS member free, Non ASPS member $10.00 Book printed or E-Book $55.00

Other materials needed for course are: PC or Macintosh desktop or laptop - you supply. Also needed - 4x9 USPS plotter $10.00,  Dividers $15.00. If you need them, the plotter, protractor, and dividers can be purchased from Annapolis Sail and Power.
Marine Navigation is the first course in using charts to Plan, Navigate and Check your progress when navigating your boat. In the nine week course, OpenCPN navigation software and paper charts are used.

We will be practicing the skills needed for using a chartplotter and paper chart navigation. The course covers: Chart nomenclature, electronic charts, how constant fix and dead reckoning navigation works, and planning routes on coastal and rivers and lakes.

Marine Engine Maintenance

Title: Marine Engine Maintenance

Where: Zoom

Cost:  Member ASPS members free, Non Members $10.00,  Book Fee $55.00 for Printed or E-Book

Dates: October 4, 2022 to December 20, 2022

Register for this course:  Register Here

The Engine Maintenance course is a ten chapter course that stresses the diagnosis of modern systems, while also teaching the basics of engine layout and operation. Gasoline inboards, outboards, and diesel engines are taught in a way that reinforces the common aspects of how engines work. This course is complete in one book with one exam. 

Modern engines offer high reliability and good performance through the use of computerized systems for fuel delivery and engine timing. Most of these systems are "black boxes" that can no longer be serviced by weekend mechanics with ordinary tools. The EM course covers those repairs that do-it-yourselfers can still perform, teaches how to diagnose problems that might be beyond your ability to fix, and how to share information with your mechanic so the right repairs get performed. The Engine Maintenance also covers basic mechanical systems such as drive systems (propellers), steering systems, and engine controls. The last chapter discusses solutions you might use to problems that could occur while afloat and away from a repair facility. Gasoline, diesel, and outboard engines are treated independently in this chapter.