US Coast Guard Auxiliary, 5th Southern District, Flotilla 21-04, Chestertown, MD Events

As you all know, the first of our two Division training days is scheduled for 26 April at Station Still Pond. By way of review, this is an opportunity for crew and coxswain candidates to get signed off by QEs, and those who need a 3 year recertification can also get that taken care of.

There are just a few caveats:

1. Crew and Coxswain candidates must have all on- and off-water tasks signed off by mentors before they will be examined.

2. All hands must have full PPE. (Not sure if we will need anti-exposure coveralls - in past years, since we were staying in the protected waters of Still Pond, we did not need them. Sr Chief Hines of CBS will be the deciding person.)

3. Time permitting the QEs may offer NavRules examinations. I recommend those of us who only need the 5 year retest do so on-line.

4. This is not a training day - it is a safety review and qualifications day. Trainees who are not yet ready for their QE check ride are more than welcome to attend , but there is no guarantee they will get any on-water time. This will depend on the number of actual candidates and recertification personnel.

On that day we'll have the mandatory one hour TCT review as well as a full ops safety review. This latter task, although not mandatory, is an excellent chance for us to share thoughts, insights and experiences to make our work on the water safer and more enjoyable. We'll also have flare , P6 and fire extinguisher training. Harvey and I will be publishing a detailed Plan of the Day within a week.

Anyone planning on recertification should approach this undertaking with the same preparation as initial qualification. A lot of people have failed this on their first recertification attempt due to lack of adequate preparation. Study the Boat crew Manual; practice your SAR work and Marlinspike Seamanship.

The event will start promptly at 0800 and will end when all on-water tasks are complete. Brown bag lunch is strongly recommended, as you won't have time to run into town to buy something.

Attached is an application form that I need completed by everyone who will be attending. It's important that I get these completed forms back as soon as possible but no later than 11 April, as Phil Wentz will need to know how many QEs to line up for this event and Harvey and I will need to know how many people and OPFACs to expect.

George

District 054 Division 21 Flotilla 04