Community Corner

Port Jeff Flotilla of U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary at St. Paddy's Day Parade

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla located in Port Jefferson marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday and helped raise awareness for boating safety.

Flotilla 22-06 of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary located in Port Jefferson marched with other businesses from the village and surrounding areas in the .

According to Coast Guard Auxiliary member Thomas J. Lynch his flotilla patrols the waters of the Long Island Sound from just past Old Field and along the coast to Port Jefferson and beyond.

The job of the volunteers in the Coast Guard Auxiliary is not to provide law enforcement (that's the job of the Coast Guard) but to educate the public on boating safety by conducting vessel inspections and holding training courses.

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“We do lots of training in the and the ,” said Lynch. “Our flotilla probably trains between 40 to 60 people a year.”

Lynch recently received his ten-year certificate with the Coast Guard Auxiliary and says he’s trained hundreds of people in that time in a variety of piloting and saftey courses. He credits a massive public education effort on the part of his former flotilla in Pennsylvania and the Port Jefferson flotilla's team effort at outreach.

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Boating safety is important because, according to Lynch, people on the water can be more dangerous than people on the roads.

“You can have nine guys in a ten foot boat anchored at the mouth of Port Jefferson Harbor and the can’t get through,” he said. “It’s amazing what people don’t think about it.”

They also hold a helpful class called “Suddenly in Command.” It’s a basics course for non-boaters who like to go out on other people’s vessels.

“What happens when you’re on someone’s boat and the owner is incapacitated?” said Lynch.

According to their website, the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is a volunteer branch of the United States Coast Guard that was established by Congress in 1939 to assist in promoting boating safety.

Flotilla 22-06 located in Port Jefferson help patrol the Long Island Sound along with the five other flotillas in Division 22 and support the area US Coast Guard Station, Station Eatons Neck. Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at the . Doors open at 1900 hours (7:00 p.m.); call to order is 1930 (7:30 p.m.).

The will be held on April 9 at the Belle Terre Community Center.

Correction: Some of the combined numbers for the safety courses and training courses were reported wrong. This version reflects more accurate estimates.


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