CAMPBELL RIVER, BC – The Ripple Rock Power and Sail Squadron is now in its 60th year of teaching safe boating practices in Campbell River.
The non-profit is volunteer-run, with courses and training led by volunteers instructors who hold boating certification.
Lee Andrew, a trainer with Ripple Rock, says safety lessons may not always be required, but it’s still an important thing to do.
“We have many people who’ve signed up for a course with their spouses. The spouse doesn’t know anything about boating, but the other half has been boating forever and think they know everything. But by the end of (the course), many of them have come up to me and said ‘I thought I knew everything, but I knew nothing.’” Andrew said.
“The amount of knowledge that even an experienced boater gains from the boating course is very much.”
Ripple Rock Power and Sail Squadron offers boating courses, as well as radio communications courses.
“We teach everything from safety equipment that you need on board, to tides and currents, to chartwork navigation, how to use a compass, and other things.”
Andrew says they teach 25 to 100 people each year. He adds they’ve taught boaters as young as 12 and as old as 80.
Ripple Rock is the Campbell River unit of the Canadian Power and Sail Squadron, and has been in the city since 1959.
For more information on courses offered, visit Ripple Rock Power and Sail Squadron’s website.
