The North American Safe Boating Campaign has kicked off yet again and in a not so surprising turn of events, the theme remains: Wear It!
Tag: National Safe Boating Week
Getting a free vessel safety check ensures you are better prepared if something goes wrong while you’re out on the water and could save your life. The free VSC is performed at your boat – whether in a slip, at the launch ramp, or in your driveway – by a certified vessel examiner, at a mutually-convenient time, and usually takes 30 to 45 minutes, depending upon the size of your boat.
A life jacket buys you time to catch your breath when you fall in the water. It buys you time to try to rescue yourself and get back on your boat or personal watercraft. Wear your life jacket and live to love them another day.
“What greater mission is there than saving lives?” This is exactly the thought Auxiliarist Jacob Thayer has when he thinks about the Coast Guard and why he decided to become a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Are you a boater? If so, you’ve probably heard countless tips about how to keep yourself safe while on the water. You also probably have all the necessary safety equipment, such as a marine VHF radio and lifejackets. With the launch of the Coast Guard mobile application, you can have all this information, and more, at your fingertips.
Say the word hoax out loud. It sounds similar to the noise you might make if something was stuck in your throat. Just like something stuck in your throat, hoaxes are obstructions to the life-saving work that the Coast Guard does. Hoaxes waste vital search and rescue resources and unnecessarily put the men and women who selflessly serve as first responders at risk.
With satellite-fed maps on every smart phone, getting lost seems like a problem of a past era. But what happens when your electronics short out, your boat starts taking on water or catches on fire and you have to abandon ship? Now you’re lost because your cell phone is an expensive brick because it just hit the water, and your GPS and radio are under water.
If you’re headed out on the water, it is important to educate yourself on the proper usage of your equipment and more importantly know how to operate your boat safely. How important? It could make the difference between life and death.
Paddle sports continue to be the fastest growing segment of recreational boating, with more than 300,000 paddle craft, primarily kayaks, being sold annually. However, paddle sports present unique dangers. Paddlers are more exposed than boaters to the elements. Eight of every 10 boaters who drowned in 2013 were using boats less than 21 feet in length, a sobering statistic that shows the vulnerability of small craft, including paddle craft.
Alcohol affects judgment, vision, balance and coordination. The marine environment – motion, vibration, engine noise, sun, wind and spray – accelerates this impairment. The vast majority of boaters don’t want to endanger the lives of the men, women and children around them. Sometimes, people are just misinformed. With that in mind, check out these alcohol myths vs. facts.