Boat Safety Tips

Before your next trip or your first trip on the ocean or lake, review these boat safety tips. If it is your boat, it is your responsibility to keep your passengers and people on other boats and the shore safe.

Safety Gear is Very Important For Boat Safety

Make sure that your boat is has not only the safety equipment required by law, but also the safety equipment that you may need in an emergency. You should have more than enough life jackets for all passengers. You should have a wide variety of life jackets to cover the size range of your passengers. Infants require special life jackets. Children of different sizes also require life jackets that fit them properly.

Always wear a life jacket while you are on the water or dock.

You may also need other safety equipment including: an inflatable boat with oars, flares and a flare gun, emergency water, blankets, safety suits, flashlights and a portable heart defibrillator.

It is also important to have proper lighting on your boat just in case you end up driving it at night.

Use Caution While Boarding and Exiting For Boat Safety

Boarding and exiting a boat may be the most dangerous part of your trip. Not only are many people injured going on and off of a boat, but sometimes people are killed or lost during what appears to be a simple procedure. When you are getting on a boat it is normally from a dock that is moving because it is on the water. The boat is also moving. Sometimes they are moving together and apart. Wait until the boat is as close to the dock as possible before stepping onto it. Grasp the railing firmly and hold on until you have both feet on the boat.

Children and adults have fallen through the gap and into the water, sometimes they drown, sometimes they are not found for awhile. Be safe on a boat and watch your step.

Of all the boat safety tips that you hear, this may be one of the most important.

Don't Ride in a Boat if the Driver is Drinking or Intoxicated for Boat Safety

It is illegal to drink and drive a boat or be intoxicated on some other substance. Refuse to continue on if your boat driver is drinking or insist on taking over. Even if you have never driven a boat before, if you know how to drive a car, you will do better than a drunk person driving a boat.

Don't Go Boating Alone for Boat Safety

Although it may seem peaceful at times, it is also very dangerous to go boating alone. Do not go boating alone if you can help it.

Follow All Boating Rules

Research all of the boating rules for the ocean or lake that you will be traveling on. Make sure that you understand the rules and follow them, it just may save your life.

Follow these simple boating rules to keep yourself and your loved ones safe on your boat. Boat safety tips are for everyone, not just new boaters, but they are reminder for seasoned sailors as well.