Unlike many of their neighbors who hail from parts of the Midwest and Northeast, Margaret and Claude Fraser didn’t fall far from the East Tennessee tree, moving about six years ago from Lenoir City to Tellico Village to enjoy life on the water.
That life is sure to be enriched now that they are official members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 12-2, joining the boating safety and service organization in February and getting officially sworn in late last month.
“We’re looking at maybe cruising some of the rivers, but we didn’t have the knowledge to do that,” Margaret said. “We don’t know how to do that.”
To get the learning process going, the couple took a basic boating safety class with the U.S. Coast Guard this past fall and joined the Auxiliary Flotilla 12-2 to take advantage of further training.
Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 12-2 is a volunteer branch of the U.S. Coast Guard that conducts vessel examinations, boater safety training — including a class called Suddenly in Command geared toward women — and courses on water navigation, proper boat storing, boating laws and other topics throughout the year.
Tom Murphy, auxiliary commander, said the organization has 24 members between the main flotilla in the Village and a Watts Barr group that operates along the eastern waters of Watts Barr Lake in and around Kingston and Harriman.
“We are essentially out there to educate to do safety patrols, help people on the water and things of that nature,” Murphy said.
Murphy said the flotilla’s Suddenly in Command class to educate women on boater safety has been a success thus far.
“We designed a class that is exclusively for women and taught by women,” Murphy said. “We’ve taken the guys out of the environment so that the women are a lot more comfortable and can open up about their boating issues and can freely talk with the women instructors that we have, and they get a lot of information out of it.”
The next Suddenly in Command class is set for 2-5 p.m. May 15 on the upper floor of the Yacht Club. Call Murphy at 865-320-3788 to register.
“They become a part of the process, and that’s a very healthy thing from a safety standpoint,” Murphy said.
Margaret said she was interested in taking the Suddenly in Command course because the couple typically boats by themselves, and she will need to know what to do in the event that tragedy strikes.
“For me personally — because Claude and I are looking at doing this by ourselves — I need the knowledge to be able to take over in case something happens to him. I need to be comfortable with where I’m getting that knowledge. It’s huge for me, probably much more so for me than for him, just because I have so much more to learn. ... You’ve gotta think about things like that. It could happen any Saturday.”
Margaret said she was anticipating being able to draw from the wealth of knowledge at the local auxiliary.
“I think probably the most exciting thing for us is that we will be working with experienced, seasoned boaters,” she said. “These guys they know their stuff, and it’s really the only place where we can get that kind of knowledge.”
The auxiliary gathers each month starting with dinner at 5:30 p.m. the fourth Wednesday, followed by the meeting at 6:30 p.m. For more information on the auxiliary, visit http://flotilla-12-2-tellico-village.blogspot.com.
