Recreation Boating Safety
Visitor
Program
The Recreational Boating Safety Visitor Program finds new life
for Flotilla 59 in 2008. This program has been revamped
along with a new name...in the past it was known as the MDV (Marine
Dealer Visitors) program.
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In
this photo to the right are left-to-right, Paul Ginder, Pat Stewart,
Bill Leiken and Tom Miller. Paul and Pat are from Southern
California and Pat is the SO-VS for Division 5 in So. Calif. They
both volunteered to supervise us during our first few visits to PV
partner locations in Medford.
On March 26th, our first stop was at the new
Sportsman's Warehouse at Hwy 62 and Delta Waters in Medford. There
we met with the store manager and the fishing equipment manager.
We explained the visitor program, they decided to become a partner.
We suggested a joint VSC activity in their parking lot sometime in the
future. They agreed and we are now making plans for a Vessel
Safety Check with them in June.
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Our
second stop was at Joe's Sports, Outdoor & More in Medford, a MDV
partner from the past. There we met with the assistant manager, he
knew nothing about the Auxiliary's RBSVP program. We gave a brief
explanation and the assistant manager and said he'd talk with his
manager. Both store and assistant managers liked the idea so much
that they asked us if we could conduct Vessel Safety Checks during their
annual boat exchange in April. We agreed. This VSC event is
now planned for Saturday & Sunday (April 19 & 20), in the Joe's parking
lot.
At this point we are waiting for official RBSVP
certification from our Director of Auxiliary in Seattle. When
certified, we plan to update our program partner list and add new
partners. This program should greatly increase community awareness
of boating safety as well as increase USCG Auxiliary exposure in
Southern Oregon.
