Support Boat

BE RELIABLE—You need to be right there when the canoe you’re supporting needs you. That means you can’t be breaking down, so take care of necessary maintenance before the journey and have your systems working in top form. Have a good battery and charging system. Make sure your navigation lights work. Have a VHF radio that works. Have charts of the area, a GPS and know how to plot on

charts if the fog rolls in. If you have a toilet, bring along a rebuild kit. Have tools and spare fuel filters handy.

BE SEAWORTHY —Know what your boat can handle (probably more than you can). When you will REALLY be needed is when the westerly kicks out in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and you have to tow a canoe with your own boat full of wet and cold people in a rising and threatening sea. Make sure you, and your boat, are prepared for that. Be prepared to tow, and be able to do it quickly and efficiently. Have blankets and sunscreen aboard. Have a knife aboard if you wrap the prop. Have a good anchor setup and know how to use it. Be the expert with your boat that everyone expects you to be.

BE SAFE—Make sure you can get people out of the water and into your support boat with relative ease - try it during a cold-water rescue training. Little rope ladders are useless because people can’t easily climb aboard with them - a steel ladder with at least three rungs down in the water is a workable solution. And you’ll still have to pull people aboard, but at least they can help get themselves in. Have a LifeSling or throwable life ring with poly attached (so it won’t sink and foul your prop), so you can haul a person to your boat. A throwing rope bag is a good way to get a line to a person in the water. Encourage float-vest usage - It is much safer for someone in the water to float without effort. It gives the support boat skipper something to pull them in with. Wear a float vest yourself to model good

behavior and show that it isn’t that uncool. If the canoe flips, or the weather turns bad, the buck stops with you. You ARE who they will turn to.

BE DISCREET —This is a canoe journey, not a support boat journey. Fall back a bit and don’t be the center of attention, but be close enough to respond quickly when your canoe hails. Take care of your own needs (fuel, water, moorage, potty dump) after the canoes have landed. Make sure you have lunches and drinks aboard in the morning before departure. Cell phones and FRS radios are a good

way to stay in touch.

BE FUN—While you’ll be pushing your limits of navigation, anchoring and piloting skills (and parenting skills) you’ll be exploring new waters as part of an important

cultural event. You’re an important member of the Canoe Family, providing the canoes increased safety and convenience. Be flexible - it will come out alright, so long as you’re smiling.

TEACH RESPECT—Kids can have fun and be respectful, too. You’re the master of your ship and responsible for all aboard, so make rules that work for your boat and stick to them. If smaller kids need to have their float-vests on every time they’re out of the cockpit, enforce that. If they make a mess down below, make them pick it all up before stepping onto the dock. Most people like to know what

the rules are so they can follow them - they want to do the right thing - so let them know your rules and be consistent in applying them. It’s OK to be a parent when needed, but you have too much to do to be a cop. Model good behavior at all times - they’re looking to you much more than you think. People think that a canoe journey is about pulling in the canoe, but it’s so much more than that - seeing how protocol works, seeing how people get along, its seeing how the Canoe Family provides duties for everyone so everyone has a place and is needed.

Support Boat Supplies

• Binoculars

• Life jackets

• Marina fees

• First Aid kit

• Blankets– preferably not cotton

• Hand warmers

• Food/extra food

• Means to heat food as needed (optional)

• VHF marine radios

• Visual Distress Signals (flares)

• Sound Producing Devices. If vessel is less than 39.4

feet/12 meters: whistle or horn. If vessel is over 39.4

feet/12 meters: whistle or horn and bell

• Navigation lights: (white, red and green)

• Fire extinguisher

• Extra clothes– bring various sizes of old clothes for

wet paddlers

• List of cell phone numbers

• •Spare bailer or pump

• • • We will often be traveling out of cell phone range, and your brand may not have coverage in certain areas, or may have high roaming charges in other countries.

• These additional Federal requirements: *Ventilation system, Backfire Flame Arrestor, Oil Pollution Placard, Garbage Placard, Marine Sanitation Device (if installed toilet), Copy of Navigation Rules