A Friendly Auxiliary “Works” the Columbia River
By Debbie and Joe Engel – D13, Division 7, Flotilla 73, Portland, OR

Good Dave with Slow Sign

By far, the most effective way to get our customers, the boating public, to do something they might not want to do, is with smiles, friendliness and even a little “showmanship.”  Give the public a bit of entertainment and you can engender fabulous support while working in a tough security zone.

This year, Auxiliary members from D13 Division 7 were once again out on the Columbia River for a big July 4th fireworks show.  Their primary job was to enforce the closed exclusion zone for the fireworks.

Eager boaters were anchoring-up in the area as early as 2:00 pm as approximately 1,000 boaters chose to view the fireworks from their boats, anchored all across the Columbia River.

This year turned out to be a gorgeous, warm, cloudless day and everyone was cranking up the “fun.”  By 1:00 PM crewmember Jerry Darnell of Flotilla 7-12 was warming up for his third annual “floor show” or maybe we should say “boat show.”

Jerry is an Auxiliary member with talent; he seems to be a born showman.  All through the many anchored boats and all along the Columbia River floats and docks, Jerry had a captive audience.  They were happy to see Jerry, working off of the bow of our 40 ft patrol vessel, making his annual debut as “Auxiliary Friendly.”

Families anchored on the river were fishing, cooking on their grills, playing games, taking dips in the river, and in general enjoying themselves.  Many were dinghying about provoking “water cannon” fights.  As the temperatures soared, we could have used a good cooling off ourselves.

Our Auxiliary crew-members were also enjoying ourselves interacting in such a positive manner with the boating public.  As we circulated through the security zone, hour after hour, we were challenged to many water-fights and we were offered a lot of BBQ food and libations (which we graciously declined).  We always received a big wave, a big smile and a big thank you.

Jerry thanking kids for wearing life jackets

Using the loudhailer off the bow in a most friendly manner, Jerry congratulated those kids who were wearing their lifejackets and laughingly asked why their parents were not.  “Kid power is amazing,” he said.  He thanked all of those boaters who had their vessel safety check stickers displayed on the windshield of their boats.

Jerry made a special effort to remind all who could hear, that the Auxiliary was responsible for the good weather, the great fireworks and that having fun was mandatory for all.  Several youngsters looked forward to our circuits through the anchorage to tell Jerry they had just caught a fish, or proudly model their life jacket for him.

Dave Ransier of Flotilla 78, patrolling on his vessel, put on his greatest smile while requesting some boaters to slow down and watch their wakes.  “The smile, the request for help in avoiding wakes, really worked well,” he said.  How can anyone refuse to slow down especially when reminded so nicely by a smiling Auxiliary member?

Jerry, Dave and many other Auxiliary members patrolled at this pace for eleven long, hot hours and were hoarse and tired by the end.

July 4th is typically a day when boaters are celebrating and not always listening to directions.  But with Jerry and Dave’s gentle reminders, even the hard-core ski and fast movers were smiling as we reminded them to watch their wake while moving through the anchored boats.

Throughout the event, boaters were polite, happy and thankful that the Coast Guard Auxiliary was there to enforce the security zone.  Many called out “thank you Auxiliary” and “we appreciate your work”.  We also received calls over the radio thanking the Auxiliary.

All this proves again that affable works so much better than authoritative.