High water marks

Students learn boating lessons in floating classroom.

Macomb Daily Staff Writer

More than 200 seventh-graders from Macomb County earned an extra hands-on lesson in boating safety this week by spending an afternoon with sheriff ’s marine officers.
The youngsters were selected for the school-day trip by scoring 100 percent on a boating safety test that 10,000 of their peers took at the end of a weeklong course taught by the Marine Division of the Macomb County Sheriff ’s Office. Forty-five students from Chippewa Valley Public Schools participated Friday.

“This wasn’t just a fun Friday,” said teacher Tammy Wilkowski, a teacher at Seneca Middle School. “They saw the practical aspects of what they learned in class and read in a book.”
The youths took a 90-minute trip on the boat from marine division headquarters located at the state Department of Natural Resources access site at the end of South River Road in Harrison Township.

Each one got to steer the boat for a short time.
“Some waves were coming at the boat and I went into them, and the boat started rocking,” student John McCarron of Seneca said. “We did tight circles, and we saw the Art Van house, the Ford estate and a freighter close up.

“I love the water even though I don’t have a boat yet. If I have enough money, I’ll buy one.”
“It was pretty cool, it was awesome,” said student Alex Schumaker of Wyandot Middle School. “It’s only the second time I’ve ever been on a boat. I liked the wind and seeing all the other boats out there.”

They also spent about an hour inside the division’s building listening to marine officers give demonstrations on using various boating equipment.

Nearly all school districts in the county have the marine officers teach classes to their seventh graders, although a few — Anchor Bay Schools, Warren Consolidated Schools and Lakeview Public Schools — have dropped out in the past couple of years for different reasons.

Sheriff Mark Hackel recalled when he was 13 years old and attended a similar class at Lincoln High School in Warren.

“I still remember what I learned in those lessons,” Hackel said. “I took the class because I wanted to drive my grandfather’s fishing boat up north.”

Over the winter, in addition to the middle schools, more than 9,000 other people — adults, children, and senior citizens — took classes.

The seventh-graders earned their licenses to drive a boat. Under state law, those from age 12 through 15 must have a boating safety certificate to steer a boat, while anyone 16 and up can do so. No one from age 12 to 14 can operate a personal watercraft on their own.

During the summer, starting this weekend, the five-member division will be increased to nine, supplemented by 90 marine reserves, to patrol the waters. Seven vessels of varying sizes and four personal watercraft are used.

“We want visibility — to have interaction with the public and enforcement,” the sheriff said.
The division replaced two of its four personal watercraft with a couple of similar Yamaha watercraft, one of which can reach 70 mph., while the other’s top speed is 55 to 60 mph.

– (Macomb Daily) 5/28/05