[This is a really great idea! Perhaps something like this should be offered at the Seattle Boat Show. I know I’d like my family to attend such a session. Onward with the press release…]

It’s never too early to learn about safety on the water. That’s why Cobra Marine, a division of Cobra Electronics, along with its partners Sea Tow Services International and the Sea Tow Foundation for Boating Safety and Education are offering simulated VHF radio mayday call and radio operation instruction for children at the Miami International Boat Show. Those interested in participating can stop by Sea Tow’s booth #S40 or Cobra’s booth #1610 anytime during the show, February 11-15.

"We aligned ourselves with Sea Tow to help make waterways safer by enabling effective communication," said Tony Mirabelli, Cobra’s senior vice-president of marketing and sales. "Now, we’re taking it one step further and showing the next generation of boaters how to help in an emergency."

My kids are trade show swag aficionados. They’re practically swag dowsers, I tell you, divining the presence of swag from two aisles away. I don’t really understand how they do it.

But I do appreciate their mystical ability at the Seattle Boat Show, especially when it yields treasures such as these:

Kenmore Air (booth East 813 at Qwest Field, and Tent 303 on Lake Union) has cool balsa gliders while supplies last. Even my wife wanted one of those.

And of course there are tide tables galore from a huge variety of sources. However, may I suggest that you stop by the public service agency grotto at the far south end of the East Hall (East 1515, to be precise)? There you’ll find the USCG 13th District, Washington State Parks and Recreation, the Power Squadron, and the Recreational Boating Association of Washington.

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I can’t remember which of these booths had the Puget Sound Pilots 2010 Current & Tide Tables booklet, but I think it was the RBAW. All I know for sure is that the PSP booklet is a VERY comprehensive tide table booklet, with a lot of extra information many recreational boaters will appreciate.

For instance, do you need the local number for Maersk, K-Line, or Holland America? That’s in there, on the page listing “Vessel Agents & Operators.” How about an after-hours port security phone number for, say, the Port of Everett, or a phone number for the Ballard Locks? That’s in there, too, along with lots of reference information for pilots and commercial vessel operators. Handy! 

The only thing missing, from a pleasure-craft perspective, is a set of current tables for Deception Pass. Apparently big ships requiring pilots don’t generally use Deception Pass. Go figure! So you’ll have to track down another free tide table from one of the other booths at the show.

Besides climbing around making the Hinckley Picnic Boat people nervous, there are lots of other, more appropriate activities for children at the 2010 Seattle Boat Show.

In particular, kids of all ages will enjoy a tour of the Worlds Largest Toy Boat Collection.

In fact, this is only about 20% of the collection, which includes over 5000 boats in all. There are “only” about 1000 boats on display at the show. I overheard lots of people—of all ages—say things like “I used to have one of those!”

And the Center For Wooden Boats is once again hosting an activity that kept my younger daughter busy for at least an hour last year, sailing model boats across a tiny “pond”, using plain old household box fans to create artificial wind. It’s amazing how smoothly the models sail across, back and forth. I found myself yelling “Starboard boat!” lots of times, but those burdened-vessel port-tackers never seemed to steer clear.

Daren Lewis at the US Coast Guard’s 13th District posted some important reminders about children and PFDs over on the District 13 blog.

Aboard my boat, children and adults wear PFDs at all times underway, and children wear them at the dock. As I’ve recommended before, have a PFD protocol! I don’t care what it is. But give it some thought, establish some rules, and enforce them.

Anyway, the Coast Guard guidelines bear repeating, so here they are:

As we enter the boating season and get life jackets out of storage for the first time since last season it is important to pay particular attention to the fit of the life jackets for the kids on our boats. As all parents know, growing out of clothes and shoes is a constant challenge. Children grow out of life jackets too. Life jackets need to be carefully fitted to children in order to be effective. Children can fall out of life jackets that are too large or improperly fastened and may not receive sufficient flotation from a life jacket that is too small. Even a life jacket that appears to fit may allow a child to shift downward so that their face is immersed once they enter the water.

• Choose the right size.
• Make sure it is in serviceable condition.
• Buckle all the buckles, tie the ties, zip the zippers, and use the straps… including the crotch strap if equipped.
• Tighten the straps, the life jacket should be snug as it will loosen in the water.
• Pick the child up with the life jacket, vest types should not pull up above the ears.
• Make sure kids wear the life jacket and wear yours. You are not only modeling good behavior but you will also be able to assist your kids if everyone ends up in the water. WEAR IT!

Here are some vendors you should not overlook during your visit to the Seattle Boat Show, which runs through Sunday this year.

 
Our old friends from GetStorganized are present (East 1429), and they’ve got some new items to show.

 
Our new friends from SeaSucker are in East 1329, with a line of high-quality suction-mounted products familiar to east-coast boaters, but virtually unheard of on the west coast. This is their first boat show in our region.

Our friends at BoatLeather are present (East 1332) with leather wheel covers, chafing gear, and other functional and beautiful fixture coverings. They’ve also got these clever utility clips that slip over typical cylindrical rails.

The BottomSiders folks have a display (East 513) that shows how their custom-fabricated cockpit cushions are constructed. These are especially popular in sailboat cockpits, but more and more power boaters are finding applications for them as well.

And even if you didn’t bring any children along, head down to the Center For Wooden Boats pond (West 11, under the stairs at the south end of the hall), have a seat, and watch the action for a few minutes.

I’ve written before about how much I appreciate Rite in the Rain all-weather paper products. I used one for my log aboard Two Lucky Fish, and I carry another smaller one with me every day.

But today, we put a sheet to the ultimate test!

Here’s Blake, 7-month-old offspring of Navagear founder and publisher Aaron. Blake likes paper. He doesn’t write on it. He crumples it and gnaws on it. Sheets of normal paper last about two minutes before some conscientious adult feels obligated to fetch all the goopy bits from his mouth and throw them away.

The Rite in the Rain paper Blake is clutching in his right hand has been actively used for about half an hour.

Once he finally relinquished it, it looked…pretty good, actually! Great products.

This was a highlight of the Pacific Marine Expo last year, and this year was no different. In fact, our excitement last year inspired my daughter and me to get our own remote-control model boat, which we brought to the show this year.

Kiera is in the background, running our little tug, which is made up on the hip of a small scrap-metal barge.

New this year were RC helicopters taking off and landing from RC boats. Sorry the picture below is a little blurry, but the helicopter kept moving! It’s the dark blue blur directly above the transom of the yacht.

You can see the rotor wash affecting the surface of the water, which apparently made the landing pretty difficult…it was powerful enough to shove the yacht around on the pond! But after several approaches and aborted attempts, this landing was successful. (Not all landings were!)

The Pacific Marine Expo is not the only place you can see these boats, by the way. A local club, the Northwest R/C Ship Modelers, host events year-round, ranging from informal “fun floats” to the prestigious Foss Cup.

I wrote last winter about how impressed I had been with the Airis inflatable kayak I saw at the Seattle Boat Show last winter. I got a chance to put one through its paces this summer during my cruise, and it was a BIG hit, especially with my girls.

Kiera and I used this one to avoid parking hassles at this fall’s Boats Afloat Show. We parked, for free, near Kenmore Air on Lake Union, inflated the Airis Sport 11, and paddled over to the show. We can both sit in the Airis together, but just barely.

Now if only they made a tandem…

Coming January 2009, four exciting new inflatable kayak models will be added to the Airis website. Get a sneak peek, download the spec sheets here:

• Angler / Yellow Angler
• Tandem
• Tender
• Velocity

It sounds like we’ll get to see these new models in person at the mid-winter boat shows. Let’s just say that I’m VERY interested…

The folks at Blue Highway Games sold me a new game recently, and now that I’ve conducted thorough play-testing aboard Two Lucky Fish, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs-up!

[Click to enlarge: a hard-fought match between my father and me.]

The game is called Bananagrams, and despite what you may think, it’s not Scrabble. The Bananagrams website is very informative, with complete instructions and other information that should help you decide if it’s the type of game your crew will enjoy.

I’ll describe the game in a bit more detail below, but here’s why I think it’s an especially good boat game, in particular:

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Have a PFD Protocol! The Coast Guard and the Safe Boating Council seem to agree.

[Thanks to Captain Richard Rodriguez for pointing this out...I didn't even know it was National Safe Boating Week!]

SEATTLE - In preparation for the 50th Annual National Safe Boating Week, May 17-24, the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary along with boating agencies from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana are asking boaters and beachgoers to take special precautions before getting into the water as the boating season begins and summer temperatures rise.

To encourage the mandatory use of life jackets by children, Dairy Queen has teamed up with the Coast Guard and the state boating programs as well as other state and federal agencies to reward children wearing lifejackets with coupons for free ice cream. Dairy Queen has been a staunch supporter of boating safety for eight years and will again provide safe junior boaters with a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cone if they are 16 years old or younger and wearing a lifejacket while boating.

With record temperatures forecasted for the weekend anyone who chooses to beat the heat at a local river, stream, or pond should be very cautious as they could be entering a very deadly situation.

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