Boating Safety Tips from CA State Parks as Summer Approaches
Press release from California Department of Parks and Recreation:
California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways is joining boating education professionals across the country in reminding recreational boaters to boat responsibly during National Safe Boating Week (May 21-27) and year-round. Simple actions such as wearing a life jacket and getting the California Boater Card can help improve safety on California’s waterways.
According to DBW statistics, where cause of death was known 71% of drowning victims in recreational boating accidents were not wearing a life jacket in 2021. Wearing a life jacket is the number one way to increase the chances of survival in an emergency, whether on a powerboat or paddlecraft. There is no excuse not to wear a life jacket. Modern life jackets come in comfortable styles and designs. Additionally, DBW has partnered with a number of entities across the state to loan life jackets to the public.
“Through our statewide partnerships with educational institutions and aquatic centers, DBW educates thousands of boaters about the ways they can prepare for a safe and responsible time out on the water,” says DBW Acting Deputy Director Ramona Fernandez. “The number one lesson is to boat responsibly by always wearing a life jacket.”
A few important safety tips are included below:
- Get your California Boater Card. As of January 1, 2022 all operators of motorized vessels on California waterways 45 years of age and younger are required to carry the card. By 2025, all boaters will be required to carry one regardless of age. The lifetime card fee is $10. Remember it is the law. Learn more at CaliforniaBoaterCard.com.
- Make sure you have the right safety equipment on board. Life jackets for everyone on board, navigation lights and sound signaling devices are some of the required equipment needed for a safer voyage. If in doubt about what is required, check out the ABCs of California Boating publication, schedule a vessel safety check with your local U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary or U.S. Power Squadrons, or download a virtual vessel safety check and inspect your boat.
- Inspect your life jacket. Make sure that there is a life jacket for everyone on board and that they are serviceable. Check the label to make sure the life jacket has a U.S. Coast Guard approval number, is the appropriate size, and is the right type of life jacket for the intended boating activity.
- Plan ahead. Considering this year’s drought conditions impacting waterways throughout the state, plan ahead and check the impact of the drought on your favorite waterway before going out on the water.
- File a float plan before each boating trip. Share a float plan with a family member or friend including the details of your trip, so your location is known in the event of an emergency. Click here to view/print a float plan.
- Check the weather. Before getting underway, check the latest conditions such as weather and check regularly for changing conditions. Besides the Internet, information may be obtained by tuning to local radio stations or the National Weather Radio broadcasts.
- Avoid Alcohol. Operating a boat with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or more is against the law. Impaired operators will be stopped and be arrested even with a lower BAC if the conditions are not safe. Your boat can be impounded.
- Boat Clean and Green.Keep your trash on-board. Take advantage of shore-side facilities to recycle plastic, glass, metal and paper. Used fishing line can be deposited at fishing-line recycling stations. Always carry oil absorbents on board and in your bilge to prevent oily discharges and to prevent fuel spills. Use fuel bibs and dispose of them properly. If interested in receiving a free California Boater Kit which includes two oil absorbents, a fuel bib, and much more — click here.
The public is invited to check the information below to learn more about boating safety and find out where life jackets are available free to the public:
- Virtually kick off National Safe Boating Week by joining us on Friday, May 20, at 11:30 a.m. on the Boat California Facebook page for a live chat with boating experts about how you can keep you and your family safe while boating this summer.
- Find life jacket exchange events here happening during National Safe Boating Week throughout California where you can exchange your old life jackets for new ones.
- May 20 is Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day. DBW invites the public to wear a life jacket in their office setting
, take a photograph and share it on social media. Please tag us with #BoatCalifornia and #WearYourLifeJacketToWorkDay.
For more boating and water safety information please visit BoatCalifornia.com.
National Safe Boating Week is May 21-27. Always wear your life jacket, get your California Boater Card and Wear Your Lifejacket to Work on May 20. Photos from National Safe Boating Council and the Division of Boating and Waterways.
Be sure to use the proper, U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket for your boating/water activity.
California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways is joining boating education professionals across the country in reminding recreational boaters to boat responsibly during National Safe Boating Week (May 21-27) and year-round. Simple actions such as wearing a life jacket and getting the California Boater Card can help improve safety on California’s waterways.
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What a waste of money. There is going go be no boating season. We are in a drought where are lakes will not have enough water to float a canoe. Better to use what little water their is too cultivate you’re so called farms. At least that will benefit all of us since every thing costs to much too do any way. It will be nicer to stay home and drift off in to oblivian and not care. Our you going to join me.
$freebrandon
NLM
Is that our new White house Press Secretary on the left?
Are they saying blacks can’t swim?
isn’t it interesting how an obviously virtuous and progressive California administration chooses to portray the public?
some might claim it to be predictive programming.
but then, the government, the courts, and the media are all grossly over-represented by a disproportionate percentage of certain ethnic groups.
I think the picture of the two young colored girls with their life jackets is nice. I don’t think the California Department of Parks and Recreation is trying to convey that colored people can’t swim at all.
Careful, Martin.
Careful about what Nick?
Colored girls!!??? 2022 pal.
I don’t like using the “N” word or “BLACK.” To me they are just colored. Your skin color means nothing to me, it is what’s inside that truly matters. I know what year it is, and that does not matter to me either.
Gosh I hope not
I’m sure you are aware that people of all colors boat. So I’m a little unsure what the response here from you two is about. You seemed to be troubled by the idea that black people do recreational things…Or, maybe that images from the government include black people?
Is that uncomfortable for you? Often when faced with uncomfortable situations, people make inappropriate remarks.
I see two happy people ready for the water. The one on the left looks familiar if that helps.
The media was too “white” before but now they have over corrected. 2 wrongs don’t make a right.
36% of all Californians are white…Are only 36% of the photos even on my website white?
39% are Latino. Are 39% of the photos on my website Latino?
https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-population/
White is a race (more of less), Latino is an ethnicity (more ore less). Apparently American is not an ethnicity. So why is it ok to agree there is a cultural identity sufficent enough to have “Latino” be a category of division but not “Anglo”? Which certainly would be the vast majority of ethnicity in the US if it were a permitted term. Could it be that “Latino” is all a business fiction like a corporation that is a way of getting indivdual rights while avoiding individual obligations?
Ok. Well it’s all just like “Rage Against the Machine” – all angry as a marketing technique. It just sells well even if it is inherently a self contained contradiction.
A very good article filled with helpful and maybe lifesaving advice. Be sure to check your fire extinguisher and have a good marine radio or cell phone if you need to call help. Have fun and enjoy your time on the water.
And many good life jackets!
That is for sure. I left it out because they were covered in the article.
I am a first time boat owner and I’ve been watching all kinds of videos on youtube leaning the right way to do things on the water. My plan is to spend as much time at Ruth lake as possible this summer to keep the kids off the electronics. I got wakeboards, a wakesurfboard, and a tube. As well as fishing gear. See ya on the water!!
Have fun!
Please remember to put your engine in neutral to stop the propeller from turning when someone is getting in the water our out on the stern. Many people have been badly cut or killed from a spinning propeller. Watch out for the wild ones on jet skis! Have a wonderful time with your new boat and family.
I forgot to tell you that it is illegal to fill your boat gas tank with E15 gasoline at the station. It is more flammable than regular gasoline and can ignite much easier. Info from the US Coast Guard.
Avoiding alcohol is probably the single best advice…
I’ve read that 50 times more boating fatalities occur when alcohol is involved, compared to boating fatalities that didn’t involve alcohol…
50 times…
(The statistic could be a bit dated)….
This is really a cub scout lecture.
The boater card is another unnecessary tax.
It might be an unnecessary tax, but you need it to operate a vessel on any California waterways.