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We're investigating the start-up of a boat club in the Virginia/Maryland/D.C. area and are looking for ideas and suggestions. If you're interested please give us a moment of your time by looking over the page and giving us your comments. Thank you!
There are new laws affecting boat owners and operators in Virginia waters that went into effect on July 1, 1998 and January 1, 1999.
Virginia boat owners and persons purchasing a boat in Virginia should take a look at this important tax bulletin that explains sales and use tax and titling changes that have taken effect on January 1, 1998.
I'm into performance boats and cruising. Our boat is a '95CrownLine 225CCR with a MerCruiser 350 Magnum. When the eastern Virginia weather cooperates, we most often boat on the Potomac River, Lake Anna (in Virginia), or the Rappahannock River (in Virginia). We have been in the James River and the Hampton River (both in Virginia). We have even been in the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean with this boat, but I'm not sure we'll do it again anytime soon! We plan to take a trip down the Intra-coastal Waterway this year starting around Virginia Beach, VA and maybe going as far as South Carolina. It should be fun!
Well, the 1997 boating season didn't completely go as planned. We met some new boating friends this year and we made several trips together. We introduced them to the Rappahannock and the Potomac rivers. They introduced us to Smith Mountain Lake. What a beautiful lake! We will be going back there more. They also introduced us to the upper part of the James River from Richmond to Smithfield that we had not seen before. If you ever get to Smithfield, you've got to have a meal at Smithfield Station (see the Chesapeake Bay link), you won't be disappointed.
The US Coast GuardNavigation Center has a lot of helpful information including Local Notice to Mariners. I strongly urge anyone that is frequently aboard a recreational vessel to take the U.S. Coast Guard Auxilliary Boating Safety and Seamanship course or the U.S. Power SquadronSafe Boating course. You can take the U.S.P.S. quizon-line to see if a course would help you. If you can't get to a course near you, then get the Chapman Piloting - Seamanship & Small Boat Handling book. For some computer assistance with learning "the rules of the road", try either NavRules for DOS or NavRules for Windows. They are both pretty good for helping you to learn the 72 COLREGS (The International Regulations for Preventing Collision at Sea) and the Inland Navigation Rules. Nautical Know How is a great web site that has a safe boating course on-line as well as some tips and techniques. You can even get your safe boating certification from them for a small fee!
For the FCC's latest word on the licensing of VHF, EPIRB, and radar on recreational boats, select this link. If you want all the legal information on radios that may be used aboard a ship, which ship radio stations must be licensed by the FCC, and how to use your marine VHF radio, select this link. What are all those channels on the VHF radio for anyway? Need help installing your VHF antenna? Here's an article I found on the internet explaining the how's and why's of VHF antennas.
Want to know more about the manufacturer of your boat? Search the Manufacturer's Identification Code Database that is maintained by the USCG.
Select this link to download WinProp Calculator for Windows. For a Lotus 1-2-3 version 2 or higher spreadsheet, select this link. If you need software to extract the compressed .ZIP file, selectthis link. If you'd rather run the program on your web browser, here is a Java applet called JavaProp and RBBI PROP CALCULATOR which is another Java script calculator.
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This page was last modified on 03-12-02.
