Celebrating 60 Years of Saving Lives
Photo Courtesy of Pinellas County Clearwater is home to one of the oldest US Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotillas in Florida and the Nation. Last month, National Safe Boating Week (NSBW) and the 60th anniversary of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary Clearwater Flotilla were celebrated. It was chartered a mere 11 years after Congress established the Coast Guard Auxiliary. The purpose of the Auxiliary is to assist the Coast Guard: to promote safety and to effect rescues on and over the high seas and on navigable waters; to promote efficiency in the operation of vessels; to foster a wider knowledge of, and better compliance with, the laws, rules, and regulations governing the operation of boats; to facilitate other operations of the US Coast Guard. Historically, the Auxiliary's primary missions have been vessel safety checks, public education, and operations. Now in a post 9/11 era, Flotilla 11-1's missions have expanded to include substantially more support to Coast Guard Station Sand Key and Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater. This expansion often includes search and rescue "call outs," back up marine radio coverage and patrols to accommodate America's Waterway Watch, assisting with boat, plane, and helicopter training. Since its chartering, Flotilla 11-1 has been successfully meeting these Auxiliary's cornerstones, much to the benefit of the Clearwater Area as well as the citizens of Pinellas County and area visitors and tourists. Currently the Flotilla is 75 members strong with a variety of backgrounds including: doctors, lawyers, firemen, police officers, teachers, accountants, high tech professionals, communications specialists, professors, retired military, trades people, etc. These members put in more than 22,000 hours in 2009 in completion of the Auxiliary missions. For 2009, the Flotilla has five surface facilities and three airplanes that have patrolled or flown over 1,000 hours for more than 250 sorties. This includes 24 Search and Rescue cases with $174,000 in property assisted or saved. The Flotilla conducted more than 300 area Vessel Safety Checks and made 130 visits to local Recreational Boating Safety Visitor Partners. Flotilla 11-1 conducted 11 Boating Safety classes in 2009 instructing over 200 members of the public from as young as seven years old to seniors. Additionally, the members of Flotilla 11-1 put in more than 200 hours staffing public safety booths in such venues as Clearwater Veterans Appreciation Day, Flag Raising at Sand Key Park, Monthly Vessel Safety Check Stations at Seminole Boat Ramp, and West Marine and Quality Boats, both in Clearwater, for National Safe Boating Week. Throughout its 60 years in Clearwater, Flotilla 11-1 has been credited with numerous saved lives as part of its Search and Rescue missions. However, what can't be as easily dimensioned are the number of lives the members of 11-1 have saved via its preventive Search and Rescue missions. In other words, by graduating thousands of residents through its comprehensive boating classes, just how many tragedies were averted? Similarly, with the thousands and thousands of vessel safety checks performed on local boats, how many boating accidents and fatalities did the members of 11-1 prevent?
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