What’s your next challenge?

If you’ve been boating for a while and just going out for an afternoon driving around isn’t as much fun as it once was, you may need a new challenge that will put your boating skills both to work and to the test.

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is the civilian volunteer branch of the U.S. Coast Guard and, to many people’s surprise, volunteers may train to fulfill almost any mission assigned to the active-duty Coast Guard that doesn’t involve law enforcement or combat. The most public and best-known activities of the CG Auxiliary are Vessel Safety Checks (VSC’s), Public Education classes, and on-the-water patrols. What most people aren’t aware of is what’s on the long list of Coast Guard/Coast Guard Auxiliary activities that members may train for and perform.

The Operations Branch is the on-the-water contingent you may have seen while out boating or attending a marine event like a lobster boat race. If “boat rides” are losing a bit of their allure but boating is still a passion, training to become a CG Auxiliary Coxswain or Boat Crew member may rekindle that enthusiasm as you work through the crew or coxswain qualification process under the guidance of very experienced local members, many with decades of underway time, much of it on Maine’s less than hospitable waters.

Boat Crew is the basic operations level and qualifies you to participate in on-the-water activities under the guidance of a Coxswain who has more extensive knowledge and training. A new area for C. G. Auxiliary surface operations is the rapid expansion of Paddle Craft activity which brings a whole new boating segment out on the water. The Aux offers training in Paddlecraft Safety Instruction as well as a Paddlecraft Operators qualification.

If you enjoy cooking, assisting a local CG station, larger regional base, or deploying aboard a cutter, may be of interest. Members qualified in the AUX Chef program are in high demand and are greatly appreciated by the service members they feed.

If you’re a pilot with an ownership interest in, or personal ownership of a plane, AUXAIR pilot operations may be for you. Flight missions paid for by the Coast Guard cover the entire US coastline and inland federally controlled waterways and the Great Lakes, and may engage in Search and Rescue, pollution response, and logistics support depending on your flight experience and aircraft. Not a current pilot or have never been a pilot but interested in being Air Crew or Air Observer, you can train to fly “right seat” and handle comms with the Coast Guard, photo reconnaissance, and assist with Search and Rescue operations. Flight ops opportunities may be relatively rare, but depending on the geographic area in which you want to participate, things may be more easily accessed.

An area of special interest to the active-duty Coast Guard is Auxiliary assistance in their recruiting efforts through outreach at various venues, job fairs, high school and college career days. Once qualified, you could work alongside the recruiters in their pursuit of the outstanding applicants they need to keep the ranks at full strength and readiness.

There are over 50 qualification/tasking areas Auxiliary members may train to perform. To be clear, every qualification is not available in every flotilla location, but even fairly small flotillas can offer a range of service/training areas that may be of interest.

The C.G. Auxiliary is not a boat club or specifically a social organization in terms of its goals and structure, it is a branch of the Coast Guard and is based on the same principles of professionalism, skill, and performance that’s expected of the active duty. “Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty” aren’t just words on a wall. Those guiding principles are central to everything the Auxiliary does, but they definitely don’t mean you won’t have fun and make friends should you join the ranks of the Auxiliary, just the opposite is the case.

Full disclosure must include that there are regulations which can be frustrating at times, and procedures that seem designed to confound rather than assist members in getting things done, but even taking those issues into account, there’s a huge “net positive” to be had by becoming an active member. And like we’ve been told by teachers, coaches, and parents since the dawn of time: you get out of it what you put into it.

I’ve put just shy of 20,000 hours “into it” since 2004 and have learned much more than I would have expected about things nautical I’d been doing for 30+ years and thought I was pretty good at already. I’ve met and worked with scores of truly outstanding people. There’s also pride in serving my country and community. The C.G. Auxiliary isn’t “pretend Coast Guard”, our respective roles are well defined and our role doesn’t include having to go out when it’s blowing 40 knots or in subfreezing temperatures, but we work in a complementary manner while sharing a common goal.

There are always unknowns, like: did our teaching impart a skill that helped save a life or avert danger by simply having a better understanding of voyage planning, reading the tides and weather; did spotting the “dead” fire extinguisher or expired flares during a Vessel Safety Check keep a subsequent scary incident from becoming a tragic one; and did that long list of newly acquired boating safety knowledge lead you to the decision to declare: it looks OK now, but the marine weather and tides forecast means a scary wet ride by mid afternoon, so let’s leave the boat ride for another day and go grab lunch in the car today instead .”

For information on joining the USCG Auxiliary, please visit: https://join.cgaux.org/index.php or flotilla25.org

About the author: Ted Chatham, a retired commercial designer, and metal fabricator, has been a Maine resident since 2003 after moving from Atlanta. He currently lives in East Boothbay. Aux Chatham joined C.G. Auxiliary Flotilla 2-5 in Boothbay Harbor in 2004. Since his arrival in Maine, Aux member Chatham also served 10 years as a rural volunteer firefighter in Whitefield, eight years in the Civil Air Patrol, and was a private pilot. Aux Chatham holds numerous CG Auxiliary qualifications and offices in local, regional and national directorates. He’s a Boat Crew Coxswain and former AUXAIR Air Crew with over 4000 hours. of combined surface and air operations. Aux Chatham is a C.G. Auxiliary certified Risk Management/Crew Coordination training facilitator and area training supervisor, as well as a Search and Rescue instructor who’s participated in 40+ SAR cases, both surface and air.