MASAR Conference, Friday May 15 Workshop Choices

BASAR (Basic Search & Rescue) Practical day with Bryan Courtois,  Friday May 15

BASAR Practical day

Starts 9:00 a.m.

Finishes approximately one hour after “dark”

The BASAR practical day is not really a class but more of a test. It will be administered by MASAR Education Director Bryan Courtois and several assistants.

Prerequisite: In order to participate in the BASAR Practical Day you must have completed all of the BASAR modules either online or with your team. If you did the BASAR online, we will have a record of it. If you did BASAR with your team, you will need documentation to support that. The practical day will consist of a navigation overview covering map and compass, Lat/Lon, and UTM. We will administer the BASAR written exam and then conduct field exercises including day and night navigation, emergency shelters and fires and litter handling.

Team members who successfully pass the test will become BASAR Certified team members.

Bring your ready pack and be prepared to be self-sufficient for the duration of the day.

Candidates wishing to take the end test must register no later than May 1.

If you have questions you can reach Bryan at 207-284-3731 or bryan@pinetreesar.com 

Bryan Courtois

Bryan has been involved in SAR work for almost 20 years and is currently President of Pine Tree Search and Rescue and the MASAR Education Director and MASAR Search Team Leader. Bryan is also a Registered Maine Guide

Visual Man Tracking for SAR  

Friday, May 15  10:30 AM goes to no later than 4 PM

This seminar will be a search scenario on the grounds of the YMCA property, using only visual tracking methods. We will put together all the visual tracking concepts taught by this instructor during previous classes, for a real life search scenario. No prerequisite is necessary as we will do a quick review before the scenario although prior visual tracking classes or experience will be helpful. Students will be broken up into teams with experienced students mixed with beginners. We will spend the day working on finding and following tracks and sign, team movement, communication, navigation, track preservation and interpretation, etc. with the final goal of finding our subject!

No special equipment necessary other than your usual field items.

Dress for rain or shine.

Coby Leighton has been a Licensed Maine Forester since 1996 and a Registered Maine Guide since 2003. He is a Tom Brown's Tracker School graduate including a week long SAR Man Tracking course in 2003 and has assisted at SERE school with Advanced Evasion courses as a Visual Tracker. Coby has been a member of Franklin SAR since 2006 and taught SAR Visual Tracking courses for MASAR in 2007, 2013 and 2014.