Wednesday, October 7, 2009

How To Keep Safe On Your Watercraft or Seadoo

By Jane A. Moore

Safety and seadoos, or any watercraft, is an issue that all boaters should take seriously. In fact, it doesn't matter if you are riding a pwc, paddling a canoe, or sailing a 40 foot yacht, safety on the water is something that everyone needs to learn about and practice, for your safety and the safety of others.

Life jackets are the number one piece of safety equipment that everyone out on the water should either wear or have available. When riding on or in smaller watercraft, it is more important that you are actually wearing your life jacket at all times, since you are much closer to the water and there is more chance of going in with no time to put on a life vest. If you are on a larger boat, it is not always mandatory that you wear a life vest at all times, especially on boats that have an interior space. However, use common sense, and if you are the only one on the boat, or you are sailing in very bad weather, you should probably wear your life jacket at all times in these cases.

The next safety tip is to never operate a watercraft while or after consuming alcohol. Drinking and boating is the number one biggest cause of boating fatalities. Never allow anyone you know to mix drinking with boating, it is just bad news. It is as serious an offence as mixing alcohol and motor vehicles, so it needs to be taken seriously on boats as well.

Another safety tip that might not be obvious to recreational boaters is to always make sure you know where you are going, how long you will be out, and make sure to inform someone of your plan. This is common practice with the operation of commercial vessels, but it just makes sense that you get in the habit of always having someone know where you should be and when you should be back. That way, if you get in trouble, you have the best chances of being found as soon as possible, rather than having no one realize you were missing until too late, or not know where to start looking for you.

There are a number of safety items that you are legally required by the coastguard to carry with you on your boat. For the exact list for your particular type and size of boat, contact your local coast guard or search their website. At a minimum, boats are required to have one pfd per passenger, a sound making device, a bailing device, and a light. This is not a complete list, so make sure you check for your type of boat and outfit it with the required safety and emergency kit.

Watercraft of all types are a fun part of holidays and summertime. However, watercraft can also be very dangerous. If you follow some common sense safety tips concerning watercraft then you and your family can have fun and be safe at the same time..

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