Boating Safety

Don’t forget to share safety!

As the frontline connection to America’s boaters, retailers are the most influential source for boating information

In 2020, 767 died while boating (+25%), and sadly, most were preventable accidents. The U.S. Coast Guard would like to remind you to always share boating safety information with your customers each time you encounter them.

Among others, this includes the importance of:

  • Always wearing US Coast Guard approved life jackets,
  • Using an engine cutoff device (now required by law),
  • Avoiding impairment while operating a boat,
  • Always maintaining a proper lookout,
  • Understanding changing weather conditions,
  • Knowing the rules of the road, navigation
  • Getting a free vessel safety check, and
  • Taking a boater education course.

Additional Boating Safety tips

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File a float plan: Help others help you - OK, for the moment, don’t think of yourself as the boater in peril. Instead, imagine yourself as the loved one…
Boating accident? Don’t forget to report! - Crack up your car, and the responding police officer, sheriff’s deputy or state trooper files any required report. If you’re…
Boat safer by slowing down - Running the inlet, navigating the channel, backing into the slip: So much of what constitutes seamanship involves forging ahead with…
Safely navigate using buoys - In talking with boaters, be they readers, marina mates or folks I meet on the water, it’s become apparent that…
Rendering aid: How to safely tow other boats - You’re on your way home, feeling the last warmth of the sun as it kisses the horizon, when the cellphone…
Five Timeless Seamanship Lessons - In his Seamanship column for Boating’s July 1960 issue, Elbert Robberson wrote: “In daylight, objects around you are easy to…
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