Welcome Aboard
for a look at our World, Water, & Sea
We are boaters committed to safe boating! As a group of people who enjoy boating, together we make up the Palm Beach Sail & Power Squadron. Our members who come from the West Palm Beach and surrounding area (Boca Raton to Hobe Sound) come from different backgrounds and represent all walks of life.
We are volunteer men, women and children dedicated to promoting safe boating through education, community service and social activities. We offer boating instruction to the public and advanced courses to our members. We have fun at our meetings and the events we partake in, and most of all; especially our time on the water!
We are a private non-profit organization with over 200 men, women, and young adults who have a common interest in boating (whether power or sail). Boat ownership is not a requirement for membership.
We invite you to "sail or motor" through our website for information about all our activities educational, safety, social, and civic.
Education
The Squadron Education Department is made up of a talented, experienced, and knowledgable cadre of instructors who love to Teach-the-Ropes of boating, sailing. Following is a list of the courses required for Grade advancement:
♦ Boat Handling is taught as a series of seminiars => : Rules of the Road: A Practical Approach | Confidence in Docking and Undocking: Slow-Speed Maneuvering | Boating with Confidence: Handling Your Boat Underway | Anchoring with Assurance: Don’t Get Carried Away | Emergencies on Board: Preparation to Handle Common Problems | Knots and Line Handling: The Knots You Need to Know
♦ Marine Navigation (used to be Piloting): the first course in USPS on navigation. Focuses on the basics of coastal and inland navigation.
♦ Advanced Marine Navigation (changed from Advanced Piloting): builds on Marine Navigation and adds navigating unfamiliar waters, limited visibility, and extended cruises. Uses GPS as the primary navigation tool while adding radar, chartplotters and other electronic navigation tools.
♦ Offshore Navigation (formerly Junior Navigation): continues with GPS and adds some basic celestial navigation, using primarily the sun, to allow cruises out of sight of land.
♦ Celestial Navigation (previously Navigation): this builds on Offshore Navigation to add determination of position by using additional celestial objects – stars and planets.
Public Service
This is a list of a few of the items we do for the boating public to promote boating safety:
♦ Vessel Safety Inspections
♦ America's Boating Course for adults & children 11 to 17 years of age
♦ Flare-ups
♦ On-the-Water training in boat handling including trailoring launch & recovery
Fellowship
This is a list of a few of the items we do for ourselves to enjoy boating while promoting boating safety:
♦ Raft-ups
♦ Cruising to foreign lands in our own vessels or chartering
♦ Sailing & supporting the races of fellow groups (Castaways Sailing)
♦ Picnics
♦ Gatherings to party at several of the delightful restaurants in our area; we are experts at partying
