How To Avoid The Scammers

And not get separated from your hard earned dollars. If you have ever bought or sold anything over the Internet, whether it was equipment, parts, electronics or even a boat, chances are you have been contacted by scammers. If you haven’t, I can promise you that you will be. Our recent experience in selling some boat equipment online is a typical ploy used quite often to try and con someone out of their money or personal information, and we want to share that experience and offer some tips on how to avoid being scammed yourself by these lowlifes. We always ask that our followers share our blogs if they find them useful, and in this case, we encourage you to share this post with everyone and anyone you care about so that they can avoid the heartache and financial loss if they are taken in by these criminals. The following information and tips may just help others avoid making mistakes, so please read on.

Boating Safety Tips For Everyone

Always review basic safety rules with your passengers before departure.


BE WEATHER-WISE
❐ Check local weather conditions before departure
• Play it safe and get off the water if you notice darkening clouds, rough, changing winds or sudden temperature drops

 
FOLLOW A PRE-DEPARTURE CHECKLIST
❐ Boating safety rules
❐ Proper equipment
• Ensure you'll be ready for any on-water emergency


USE COMMON SENSE
❐ Operate at a safe speed, especially on crowded waters
❐ Be alert
❐ Steer clear of large vessels
❐ Pay attention to buoys and other navigational aids


DESIGNATE AN ASSISTANT SKIPPER
❐ Ensure another person on board can take the helm and return to shore should you become incapacitated


DEVELOP A FLOAT PLAN
❐ Always let someone on shore know your boating plans.
Include:
• Name, address, and phone number of trip leader and passengers
• Boat type and registration
• Trip itinerary
• Type of communication and signal equipment on board


LEARN TO SWIM 
❐ Check with local pools, or organizations such as the YMCA and American Red Cross for lessons


WEAR LIFEJACKETS
❐ Fit and assign a lifejacket to each passenger prior to launch


TAKE A BOATING COURSE
• Boating education requirements vary by state; regardless of your state's regulations, it's smart to be educated


SCHEDULE A FREE VESSEL SAFETY CHECK
• The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Power Squadrons offer free vessel safety checks to verify presence and condition of safety equipment, check out your boat and make safety recommendations. Find an examiner: http://www.safetyseal.net/GetVSC/


SAFETY RESOURCES
• Boat-ed.com: Official boating safety courses and online tests for your boat license
• US Power Squadrons (usps.org) and Coast Guard Auxiliaries (cgaux.org): Free vessel safety checks, boater education and safe boating tips
• Boater101.com: Water and boating safety instruction
Content courtesy of BoatSafe.com

Special Notice

The Coast Guard has recently released its first boating safety App. Features of the app include: state boating information; a safety equipment checklist; free boating safety check requests; navigation rules; float plans; and calling features to report pollution or suspicious activity. When location services are enabled, users can receive the latest weather reports from the closest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather buoys as well as report the location of a hazard on the water. The app also features an Emergency Assistance button which, with locations services enabled, will call the closest Coast Guard command center. http://www.uscg.mil/mobile/

Wifi On The Boat - Part 4

Our current WiFi set-up has been functioning almost full-time on two boats for about seven years. The progress of our WiFi system has been recorded in previous blog posts, Simple And Inexpensive WiFi and WiFi On The Boat-Part 3 that details the progression to our current equipment. This blog post is possible via that same set-up. We're not ones that have to have the latest and greatest, and we have one hard and fast rule, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But change is inevitable, and we have made a few additions to our WiFi arsenal to improve our ability to get online as needed. This is very important since we run our anchorage guide business online and everything from the publishing to shipping and receiving is done exclusively from the boat. Changes to the availability of free or open WiFi signals made these additions a necessity for us.

The Ultimate Tribulation

By Chuck Baier

Today's blog post will be more of a personal nature rather than another boat related post. I hope you'll bear with me as I get my thoughts down to let everyone know what's going on, and for my own therapeutic value. The big story is near the end if you want to skip right to it. I will bring you up to date first on where we are and how Beach House and crew finally arrived after a long and difficult struggle to make our current destination. If you have been following our recent posts, you know that we had been in Carrabelle for a couple of months trying to cross the Florida Big Bend to get over to the west coast of Florida. Beach House finally made the crossing, albeit short one of her regular crewmembers.

Can I Take My Boat to Cuba?

Can we go now? That's the question every American Skipper has been asking since the President announced talks on normalization with Cuba on December 17th, and the internet is abuzz. Unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation out there. That announcement stated that talks were to begin on the normalization process, and although the idea of formal talks between the two countries in itself is historic, we still have a long way to go before we top off our fuel tanks in Key West and point the bow south. So the short answer to the main question is, YES AND NO. The original announcement was only for formal talks and nothing more. In the following weeks, there were more announcements and some changes, and suddenly everyone was getting more excited and the rumors began flying throughout the boating community. There is a but. You have always been able to take your boat to Cuba, IF you apply for and are granted a license by the Treasury Department. This is still the case.

Boardings On The Water. What Are My Rights?

Keep in mind that we are not attorneys nor do we have any expertise in the laws regarding these actions. Every Skipper must make their own decsions when they find themselves in a boarding situation. The following are only our thoughts and opinions. Boardings by law enforcement officers on the water have always been a touchy subject for many boaters. It’s often heard that such actions are considered anywhere from a minor inconvenience to a violation of our Constitutional rights. The truth and reality lies somewhere in between. There are still many misconceptions and misinformation in the boating community as to what can and can’t be done when you hear the dreaded command, “prepare to be boarded.” What are our options?  Can we refuse? Are our rights being violated? The answers are simple yet complicated and may not be what many want to hear or to believe. 

Another Boating Equipment Update

We like to take some time at the end of a cruise or during a pause in a cruise to report on the equipment we have installed in preparation for traveling the waterways. If you have followed our blog for any length of time, you know we post each installation, upgrade and repair we do to Beach House in hopes that other boaters will find the information useful. These Project Posts are the most read and most popular on the Blog, so it only makes sense to let you know how things are holding up, what works and what was an absolute failure. Finding quality equipment and parts for a boat is getting more and more difficult as manufacturers look for ways to cut costs, and as a result, the quality declines. It's also the trend to add more and more bells and whistles to everything, and to use the latest and greatest in technology to justify the increasingly higher costs for equipment. This makes many of our electronics more difficult to understand and also adds to the possibility of failure as new features are added. We're still of the KISS mind set (keep it simple, stupid), but we also appreciate advancements that actually serve a purpose and make our boating experience safer and more enjoyable. So let's do an update of our equipment.

If Your Mate Has a Stroke Can You Help?

I know that's a scary question and not a subject you usually find here on our blog. One of the big "What if" questions that often goes through our mind when cruising revolves around what we would do if a medical emergency arises. First and foremost, would we recognize the signs, and then, would we know what to do. As our fellow boaters, us included, approach our golden years, the potential issues change in our minds. Early on, our concern was getting injured, but in these later years, it turns more to potential serious health problems. The real possibility was brought to mind by a recent article written by Keith Murray and published online at http://the-triton.com . It is with their permission that we re-post the article here for your thoughts and consideration. We hope you find it as informative as we did...

I have written about this topic before, but it’s all I can think about today. When I conduct onboard CPR, AED and first aid classes, we always review the signs and symptoms of a stroke. It’s important to recognize those signs so you can help someone having a stroke.

My father just had a stroke last weekend. Fortunately, it looks like he is going to make a full recovery.

When reading this column today, please ask yourself if you would know what to do if someone you loved were having a stroke, heart attack or other medical emergency. Could you help them? Could you recognize the signs of a stroke? Do you know how to treat a stroke victim? What would you do if a crew mate began to slur his words, appeared confused or not walking well?

A stroke is a life-threatening medical emergency that can cause paralysis, coma and death. It is the brain's version of a heart attack. A stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel, interrupting blood flow to an area of the brain (ischemic stroke) or an artery bursts and blood leaks into brain tissue (hemorrhagic stroke).

Think of a stroke as a plumbing problem at home or onboard. Either your pipes are blocked with rust (plaque) or the pipe is leaking.

When either of these occurs, brain cells begin to die and brain damage occurs. Where the damage to the brain occurs and how much of the brain is damaged will determine which symptoms the person will display.

Here are some typical symptoms that you may observe:

  

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body

Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding

Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes

Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination

Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

It should be noted that women may experience symptoms that are different from men. Those may include sudden face and limb pain, sudden hiccups, sudden nausea, sudden general weakness, sudden chest pain, sudden shortness of breath, and sudden palpitations.

If you think someone may be having a stroke, act F.A.S.T. and do this simple test:

F -- Face: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?

A -- Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?

S -- Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is their speech slurred or strange?

T -- Time: If you observe any of these signs, get medical attention immediately.

Though it is not part of the test, note the time when the symptoms first began. There is only about a three-hour window for a clot-busting medication to be given at the hospital. It is very important that the stroke victim get to a hospital as quickly as possible.

A TIA, or transient ischemic attack, is called a "warning stroke" or "mini-stroke". This type of stroke produces stroke-like symptoms but generally has no lasting damage. Recognizing and treating TIAs may reduce the risk of a major stroke. Often TIA symptoms are the same as those of a stroke, only temporary. The short duration of these symptoms and lack of permanent brain injury is the main difference between TIA and stroke.

The best way to help someone having a stroke is to recognize that they are indeed having a medical emergency and getting them to a hospital as quickly as possible. Stay with the victim, place them in a position of comfort, and monitor their breathing and consciousness.

To learn more about stroke warning signs and other medical emergencies, take a CPR, AED and first aid class. Ideally, everyone should take a refresher class at least every two years. Often classes can be conducted at your location, on your boat, or at your business.

Shipboard classes are helpful because they allow the crew to develop plans, review first aid supplies, and talk about medical emergencies as they relate to their surroundings, crew, passengers and the various ports of call.

The American Heart Association has a good 60-second video that everyone reading this should watch. And send the link to a friend. It may help someone save a life. Visit http://strokeassociation.org, click on the FAST box on the right side, then scroll down to the FAST Body Language PSA box.

Keith Murray, a former firefighter EMT, owns The CPR School, a first-aid training company. He provides onboard training for yacht captains and crew and sells and services AEDs. Contact him at 877-6-AED-CPR, 877-623-3277 or www.TheCPRSchool.com. Comments on this column are welcome at editorial@the-triton.com.