BoatUS Foundation Offering Afternoon Courses in Maryland

The nonprofit BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water will offer a choice of four at-the-helm on-water training courses on select Thursday afternoons this spring and summer at Serverna Park Yacht Basin in Maryland.

The courses are designed for beginner and experienced boaters and are taught aboard single-engine powerboats. “Intro to Boating,” “Women Making Waves,” “Precision Docking & Boat Handling,” and “Open Water Boat Handling,” courses are available on April 23; May 7 and 21; June 4 and 18; July 2, 16 and 30; and August 13 and 27.

Each course is priced at $149 and is three hours long. The minimum age to participate is 18 years old and class size is limited to four students per vessel.

The “Intro to Boating” and “Women Making Waves” courses cover shifting and steering, basic docking, open-water handling and basic navigation.

For those with some boating experience, “Precision Docking & Boat Handling” covers 180-degree turnarounds, docking on both port and starboard sides, departing from a dock, and how to use S.C.A.N. procedures to avoid distracted boating.

For students with some experience and who have completed Precision Docking and Boat Handling, “Open Water Boat Handling” includes utilizing boat trim, displacement and planning modes, object avoidance, ferrying and emergency stopping.

The goal of the courses is to address the high costs typically associated with at-the-helm training, making hands-on boating education more accessible. For more information click here.  BoatUS.org/On-Water.