Safety on the high seas

Maybe you enjoy powering across mountain lakes, or exploring lazy lagoons. Maybe running before the wind, sails billowing, is your favorite way to spend the day. Whatever your pleasure, whether this is your first or 44th season on the water, the following tips can help make all your voyages safe and enjoyable.

First, have you taken a boating safety class?

No? Every skipper should. You’ll learn more valuable safety lore than you ever imagined. Classes are often free. For information, call the U.S. Coast Guard or the Coast Guard Auxiliary. State or local agencies often offer classes, too. So does the American Red Cross and United States Power Squadrons.

Safety gear: don’t leave shore without it

When you and your fun-seeking crew push off from the dock, no one expects to capsize or hit an obstacle. No one expects to fall overboard. Yet accidents like these happen thousands of times every boating season. For that reason, and because nature plays sudden, unexpected tricks, it’s smart to carry appropriate safety gear on every trip—even if you’re only drifting across a lake on a calm day. Let’s check out your craft for vital safety gear:

1) Life preservers

Any boater would agree on the most important safety equipment you can carry—life preservers. It’s illegal in many states to operate a boat without a Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device for every passenger. Today’s life preservers are light, warm and comfortable. If they fit snugly and have sufficient buoyancy, they should keep you afloat and your head above water until help arrives.

2) Fire extinguishers

Maybe Noah’s Ark didn’t have one, but today, every boat—including sailboats—should carry one or more fire extinguishers. Be certain your extinguishers are within easy reach, fully charged and ready to use.

Extinguishers on motorboats must be capable of putting out both gas and oil fires. The following types of fire extinguishers are approved by the Coast Guard: dry chemical; foam; and carbon dioxide.

3) Visual distress signals

The Coast Guard has approved several types of visual distress signals to alert other boaters and landlubbers that you need fast help. Depending on which bodies of water you frequent, larger boats—over 16 feet or sailboats over 26 feet—must carry one or more of the following: pyrotechnic red flares (hand-held or aerial); pyrotechnic orange smoke (hand-held or floating); launchers for aerial red meteors or parachute flares; orange distress flags; and electric distress lights (for night use only).

4) Other essential safety gear

In addition to flotation devices, fire extinguishers and distress signals, carrying any or all of the gear listed here prepares you for almost any emergency:

• One or more big flashlights (the kind that float)
• Portable radio (to hear weather updates)
• Cellular phone (for use near shore)
• First aid kit
• Nautical maps and charts
• Compass
• Barometer
• A horn or whistle that can be heard within a half-mile
• Bilge pump
• Sturdy plastic buckets (no leaks) for bailing
• Oars or paddles
• One or two anchors with line
• An extra line for towing
• Tools and spare parts (an extra propeller may get you home)
• Blankets and extra clothing
• Emergency water and food
• Sun lotion and insect repellent

Think you’re all set? Now contact the Coast Guard Auxiliary or your state boating authority to request a free safety check. Then you can shove off with complete confidence.

Don’t overload your boat

• Your craft may have four seats or more, but that doesn’t mean you can invite sumo wrestlers for a ride. Heed your boat’s capacity plate. It specifies exactly how many people and pounds are permissible. That means on calm water in good weather. Don’t tempt fate by exceeding your boat’s safe capacity.

Check weather conditions

• Before setting out even on a lazy summer day, every skipper should listen to the radio or dial a weather forecast. If you hear "Small Craft Advisory," you may experience winds up to 38 mph. Stay in port. Protect yourself and your boat until danger passes.
• A wise captain’s advice: Always tell someone where you’ll be boating, when you’ll return, what your boat looks like and other identifying information. If someone has to hunt for you, you’ll be easier to find.

Never, never booze and cruise

• Boozing and cruising on the highway are tragic enough. Out on the open water, zipping along and seemingly liberated from the traffic jams of the world, the dangers from alcohol are multiplied.
• Even without alcohol, the combination of engine noise, vibration, sun, glare, wind and other motion on the water produces a kind of boater’s hypnosis. Adding alcohol to the mix affects the imbiber’s balance, coordination, judgment and reaction time almost immediately.

For a complete guide to boating safety, send us a note and we’ll send you one.

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