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The Portsmouth Auxiliary primary mission is teaching boating safety to the general public. We perform safety patrols on local waters and help boaters on the water as needed. We also assist the Coast Guard in search and rescue
operations as well as verification of Aids to Navigation on local rivers.
We do not do law enforcement but can
suggest that activities are unsafe or illegal. We are also part of the
Waterway Watch program.
We conduct free Vessel Safety Checks
for your boat, canoe, or kayak at local marinas, boat ramps and at the
homes of those who wish to insure that their boats meet Federal and
state requirements.
If you properly prepared for safe boating with good current information and have the proper equipment that you may need aboard, then you will have a enjoyable and safe trip. Here is some helpful information for boaters.
Essential Safety Information for Crew and Passengers:
Key things to know: Click on image above for video
1. Location of life jackets, first aid kit and fire extinguisher
2. How to make a basic radio call (Name of your boat for the Coast Guard). Push to talk, release to listen
3.Where to find Latitude/Longitude on the boat (GPS, Chartplotter, radio and how to transmit it
4.Start/stop engine procedure
5 Kill switch operation and location of the spare kill switch key.
6. Anchor procedures
General Information:
Before You Go Boating - Checklist
National Hurricane Center
Hurricane Preparedness Information
Local, State and Federal Information:
Virginia State Boating Information/Regulations
NOAA Booklet Charts -
Print at home for free. Booklet Charts are made to help recreational
boaters locate themselves on the water. The Booklet Chart is reduced in
scale and divided into pages for convenience, but otherwise contains all
the information of the full-scale nautical chart.
NOAA U.S. Coast Pilot - Detailed information on local waters.
Current National Weather Service Marine Weather
Current Local Portsmouth Weather Forecast
Ventusky Weather - Weather, radar, winds, clouds, waves, and much more.
Detailed Boating Information:
Find Any Location by Putting in Lat/Long
Coast Guard Light List - for every Aid to Navigation in the U.S. Updated January of each year. Note: Top left box provides link for Weekly updates and corrections.
The Local Notice for Mariners - This document provides dredging activities, regattas, missing or damaged Aids to Navigations - both public and private.