Well, we attended our first Power Squadron course last night. This is an attempt to educate ourselves prior to launching (get it – launching) into our grand boat adventure. This is just a refresher for my better half. I’m really the one that needs the educating, boat-wise.
If you’re wondering what Power Squadron is, It’s a Canadian non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing instruction for boating enthusiasts and would-be boaters. The instructors are all volunteers – which I find pretty impressive. Our instructor last night also seems dedicated to making sailors out of us all, distaining the “stinky” power boats. No worries, we weren’t dissuaded from our current course of action. We’ll see if he manages to win us over by January, when the course ends.
So, let me tell you some things I learned last night:
Uh, oh, after I typed the line above, I sat here for a couple of minutes, my mind searching, but nothing came back. I think more study is in order. Surely I must remember something. Here I go again. So, something I learned last night was:
red, port, left – all the short words
green, starboard, right – all the long words
The above is a way to remember that the port side is on the left (looking toward the bow), and that’s where your red light is located. This means of course that the starboard side is on the right, and that’s where the green light is.
Given that’s the only thing I remember, I sure hope I have that right.
