The United States Power Squadron
Organized in 1914, USPS is a non profit, educational organization dedicated to making boating safer and more enjoyable by teaching classes in seamanship, navigation and related subjects. Our members are boating families who contribute to their communities by promoting safe boating through education. We enjoy participating with our fellow members on the water and in the classroom.
USPS has some 45,000 members organized into 450 squadrons across the country and in some US territories. USPS is America’s largest non-profit boating organization and has been honored by three US presidents for its civic contributions.
With Power in the name, is USPS just for power boaters?
No, over one third of the members in USPS own sailboats. In fact, many USPS members own no boat at all, or at least none "yet." Many members join USPS because of the wide range of courses offered, and with the expectation of learning enough to own and operate a boat properly and to becoming better boaters. The Atlanta squadron is almost half sailors and in fact, their formal name is the "Atlanta Sail and Power Squadron." Many squadrons around the United States have include Sail in their name. With squadrons in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Japan, USPS can legitimately call itself "America's Boating Club."
How do I find out more about the USPS?
USPS keeps a very thorough web site at http://www.usps.org.
Does USPS have an association with the Navy or Coast Guard?
No formal association. While in many forms USPS has agreements with and supports the Navy and US Coast Guard, USPS started as and has always been a club of recreational boaters. That said, USPS has played a significant role in US Naval history. During World War I, the USPS offered, and then Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt accepted the offer to train Navy recruits for the Navy Coastal Defense. Over 5000 such recruits were trained in everything from on-the-water safety to engine maintenance. USPS played similar roles in WWII and many USPS members have served in the US Navy and Coast Guard. As recently as July 2005, the Atlanta squadron taught basic boating safety at the Naval Reserve Center in Marietta.
How did USPS get started and why the strange name?
In the early 1900's, recreational boating was in its infancy in the US, and those who had boats tended to be wealthy gentlemen with wooden sailboats. Such was the case in 1912 at the Boston Yacht Club, when one of their members, Roger Upton, and his friends were experimenting with and building the first motor-powered recreational boats. Realizing that there was a lot that they didn't know, they formed a Power Boat club within the Yacht Club. In those days before air forces, a small group of boats was often referred to as a "squadron." Indeed, the British and US Navies referred to a small collection of combat vessels as squadrons. So it was natural for Upton to name his group of fledgling power boaters, "The Power Squadron." The group received considerable media notoriety, mainly because of their noisy gasoline engines putt-putting around the Boston harbor. In 1913, over 70 separate power boat clubs and their owners met at the New York Yacht Club, formed a national organization, designed a flag, and named themselves the "United States Power Squadrons." The USPS has just celebrated their 90th anniversary as "America's Boating Club."
What is the United States Power Squadrons?
Simply, the United States Power Squadrons (USPS) is a large boating club--a group of friends that have a common love of boating, an interest in becoming better boaters, a commitment to helping our community, and most of all having fun, safely, on the water. USPS is a nationwide organization with just under 50,000 members, organized into 451 individual clubs or squadrons. Our membership includes power-boaters, sail boaters, people without boats, people "between" boats, people who are interested in boats, and people who want to have friends who have boats. Membership is very inexpensive, open to all ages, interests, and abilities, and requires nothing more than having taken a basic boating safety course.
