Boating Safety Week moving in full sail

Staff

Published Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Special to the News-Herald

This is the week, Suffolk boating enthusiasts.

National Safe Boating Week started this past Saturday highlighting the need for boaters to take command of their safety on the water by wearing a life jacket. It is a week dedicated to reinforcing to every boater, who pilot everything from sailboats and powerboats to personnel water craft, about the importance of personnel safety, with an emphasis on operating in a responsible manner. It is a week all of our readers that own a boat, regardless of size or power, and think about ways to make operation safer.

Why so much emphasis on safety?

Consider the following: despite some impressive advances in safety equipment, such as extremely comfortable personnel flotation devices, and an around the clock effort by multiple organizations providing training and boating education, 750 boaters still died in 2002. Of that group, 85 percent of those who drowned, were not wearing their life jackets, even though in many cases, life jackets were aboard. These are numbers that need to be reduced. Put another way, up to 440 lives could have been saved had boaters worn their life jackets.

According to the National Safe Boating Council's press release, "in addition to promoting life jacket use, this year's campaign is spotlighting how: New life jackets that are lighter, more flexible, and more comfortable, are now available, making it easier than ever to "Wear It!" By being safer and smarter on the water and reducing the number of preventable accidents, allow law enforcement officials to concentrate on homeland security duties.

Boating in Suffolk, North Carolina and the surrounding Hampton Roads community is fun activity. To make boating safer, the Suffolk News-Herald encourages all boaters to "Boat Smart and Boat Safe" by following these five safety tips, promoted in this year's campaign:

Wear your life jacket at all times. Doesn't matter if you are on a PWC or onboard a 60-foot sailboat.

Avoiding alcohol use when operating a boat. The hotter it is the more the alcohol will affect you.

Take a boating safety class. The Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Power Squadron provides some great opportunities.

Get your boats checked for safety and maintenance concerns. The Coast Guard Auxiliary will check your boat for free...just ask.

Be aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide. It is a colorless odorless gas that must be respected.

National Safe Boating Week is a joint effort by the National Safe Boating Council (NSBC), the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA), and the U.S. Coast Guard, in cooperation with the Canadian Safe Boating Council and the Canadian Coast Guard. For more information on safe boating, designed for readers of every age, visit www.safeboatingcampaign.com.

Editor's Note: Joe DiRenzo III is a resident of Suffolk and the News-Herald's boating columnist. His weekly offering appears every Sunday in the Sports section.

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