Boating Safety

If you are a boater -- racer, cruiser or fisherman -- by now several weekends have been spent puttering around the marina or storage area in the yard or drive, getting the boat ready for the season.The hull has been inspected, washed and waxed, the bottom painted, the engine de-winterized and tuned.Electrical systems have been checked, including navigation lights, radios, Loran or GPS units. Charts have been updated or replaced. Flares, fire extinguishers and safety kits have been checked and replaced or refilled.

The Department of Natural Resources will sponsor the popular Becoming an Outdoors-Woman workshop at two sites this year, scheduling one program in Garrett County during August and the other in Cecil County during September.The workshops, part of a national program to teach varied outdoor skills, were first offered in Maryland in 1995 and are open to all adults over the age of 18. Organizers say, however, that the courses are primarily designed for women.In each of the three-day workshops, participants select four courses from a list that includes fishing, hunting, outdoor cooking, firearms safety and handling, survival skills, mountain biking, photography, archery, bird watching, canoeing and kayaking, hiking and backpacking.

In an effort to curb danger on the waterways, law enforcement officials charged 21 boaters with violations ranging from speeding to drunken boating in eastern Baltimore County over the weekend.Federal, state and county officials combined forces Friday and Saturday nights to inspect 64 vessels in Middle River, Back River and around Hart-Miller Island, a spokesman said yesterday.One boater, a 39-year-old man from Joppa, was charged Saturday morning with operating a vessel while intoxicated, which carries maximum penalties of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, said Bob Graham, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

IN OUR HOUSEHOLD, February justifies its existence in one of two ways, depending on which side of the bed you sleep on: It's either for planning gardens or coordinating boat maintenance.These are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but neither are they mutually reinforcing. February marks the renewed realization that for eight to nine months of the year, weekend mornings rarely start with a stretch and a snuggle and the luxury of a shared day of crossword puzzles and the companionable silence of a couple of good books and a six-CD changer.

WINDY HILL -- Seven-year-old Travis Ross is explaining why his boat is purple."This is a good paint and this is a new paint and there was a lot of it," he says, head bent over the Orca, an 8-foot scow-skiff he has built and is painting.Such positive thinking mixed with practicality is as abundant as, well, purple paint at the Chessie Kids Yacht Club. The club, in an old Methodist church, is tucked back in the woods in Talbot County within walking distance of the Choptank River. Its founder and captain is Pete Imirie, a former basketball coach who grew up in St. Mary's County.

Two Baltimore marinas and the BOAT/U.S. Foundation for Boating Safety have begun a pilot program aimed at helping to save the lives of children who go boating.Working with the foundation, Baltimore Marine Center and Old Bay Marina will lend life jackets to children 12 and under in an effort to promote the use of life jackets and to ensure that children are fitted with the correct size of flotation device.Last year the Coast Guard changed life jacket requirements for recreational boats under 16 feet to require a wearable life jacket for each person on board.

Murph HymanRegional sales managerMurph Hyman, a retired regional sales manager for a company that sold ingredients to manufacture ice cream and an active member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, died Wednesday at Sinai Hospital of cancer. He was 80 and lived in Baltimore.During his 47 years as a manager in the Middle Atlantic region for American Food Laboratories Inc., Mr. Hyman became widely known as an expert in dairy science and lectured at several universities, including his alma mater, the University of Maryland.

I bought a dozen steamed crabs a couple of nights ago, and after paying for them couldn't decide whether I should eat them or pack them away as a retirement investment!The best way to enjoy a dozen or more crabs without taking out a second mortgage is to catch your own. Crabbing is fun, easy and inexpensive.Hand-lining is the most common method of catching our prized blue crabs. All you do is tie on a piece of bait (the most popular being a raw chicken neck), and toss it out into the Chesapeake, off a tidal bridge or dock.

At one time I did quite a bit of competitive skeet and pistol shooting and became modestly proficient at both. But, two of the worst competitive drubbings I ever endured in both activities came at the hands of a couple of wheelchair-bound marksmen.John Hughes can be found most sultry summer evenings casting around one of many farm and public ponds in Carroll County, and I've fished a number of times out of the Annapolis area with Don McBride aboard bay charter boats. Both spend the better part of their waking hours in wheelchairs.

The state of Maryland makes it easy -- too easy -- for people to operate a boat. You don't need a license. And if you were born before July 1, 1972, you aren't even required to take a boating safety course. You can buy a boat and be out in the middle of the bay the same afternoon, even if you can't tell starboard from port. Under current laws, the responsibility to know what you're doing is yours to assume or not.Unfortunately, the events of the Memorial Day holiday just past show that too many boaters are shirking that responsibility.

The Coast Guard rescued a man and four children who were stranded on a boat in the Chesapeake Bay after a minor engine fire Thursday. Jeff Overstreet radioed the Coast Guard about 2 p.m. Thursday after immediately shutting off the engine of his 26-foot boat near Gibson Island, north of the Bay Bridge, according to the Coast Guard. The children were Overstreet's sons, ages 12 and 16, and two of their friends. "We were just cruising along, and all of a sudden my engine started losing power," said Overstreet, a stay-at-home father from Elkridge.

Flotilla 24 of the Coast Guard Auxiliary will present a three-day boating course, leading to the award of a boating safety education certificate. A written examination is required to receive the certificate. The course will be offered from 7 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. Sept. 24, 7 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. Sept. 27, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 29 in the multipurpose room at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, 13611 Laurel-Bowie Road, Laurel. Tuition is free; there is a fee of $40 for materials which include a textbook, workbook and compact disk.

Those in nautical circles might hear more chatter this week about life jackets, proper boat lighting and navigational know-how. National Safe Boating Week, which kicked off yesterday, is when safety officials remind seagoing types about the inherent dangers of their hobby and what can be done to minimize risks. The death Thursday of Hans Horrevoets, a crew member aboard Volvo Ocean Race competitor ABN AMRO TWO who was washed overboard in the Atlantic Ocean, lends a more serious tone to the talk about safety.

Renaissance Festival Web site launched The Annapolis-based Web development company Vansant Creations has designed and launched a Web site for the Maryland Renaissance Festival that opens Saturday in Crownsville. The new site, www.renn fest.com, organizes all the information available on the festival and is more easily updated. Information: 410-266-0888. Coast Guard Auxiliary holds boating safety course The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary will hold a Boating Safety and Seamanship course from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays starting Sept.

Boating safety course to be offered in August The Friends of the Anne Arundel Trails will hold a three-part Maryland Basic Boating Safety Course from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 8, 12 and 15 at the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company on Ritchie Highway. The class provides an overview of the rules and fundamentals of safe boating and equipment. Any person born after July 1, 1972, is required to have a certificate of boating safety education before operating a documented boat on Maryland waters.

2 seminars scheduled on real estate careers Long & Foster Realtors will hold seminars on "A Career in Real Estate" to address the questions of people who are thinking of going into business for themselves. Topics will include how to get started in a real estate career, course requirements, training costs and the benefits of a real estate career. Seminars are free, but reservations are advised. Upcoming seminars are: Aug. 1: 6 p.m., Deale office, 5544 Muddy Creek Road, West River, 410-867-1000.

It was just past 10 p.m., more than halfway through an extended, 10-hour shift for Maryland Natural Resources Police Sgt. Wayne Avery and Cpl. Beth McVeigh. On water patrol along Herring Bay near Deale in southern Anne Arundel County, Avery and McVeigh watched the fireworks and enjoyed the calm, cool breeze. So far, so good. "We didn't get a drunk," Avery said as he navigated a 19-foot Boston Whaler patrol boat Saturday evening. "That's a good thing." In an effort to curb alcohol-related boating accidents and encourage water safety, the Maryland Natural Resources Police has stepped up enforcement during the long Fourth of July weekend in an action dubbed Operation Firecracker.

Coast Guard offers boating safety course at Edgewater library The Coast Guard Auxiliary will hold a Maryland Boating Safety course at the Edgewater library, 25 Stepneys Lane. Classes will be from 7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. July 14, 18, 21 and 25. The final exam will be July 26. Successful completion of the course and the final examination qualifies for the Maryland boating safety certificate. The cost is $20. Students must be age 10 or older. The registration deadline is July 12. Information: 410-798-5952.

FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS have not yet determined what caused a Seaport Taxi to capsize in March during a sudden storm. Five people died in that accident and four others were seriously injured. But a recent report suggests that at least one potential factor can be easily corrected. The Lady D was overweight, the report from the National Transportation Safety Board points out, because while it was certified to carry 25 people, the boat's 25 passengers weighed a collective 4,200 pounds - or 700 pounds more than the U.S. Coast Guard deems safe.

Coast Guard to offer certification classes on boating safety The Carroll County Bureau of Recreation will offer boating classes taught by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday and Oct. 9 at Westminster West Middle School. Another class will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Oct. 16 and 23 at Northwest Middle School. State law requires that anyone born on or after July 1, 1972, have a boating safety education certificate to operate a registered or documented pleasure boat in Maryland.