Family Boating 101: Top Tips to Make Your Boating Trips Safe and Fun
Did you know that 5000 boating accidents occur in the United States every year, and a majority of them are due to operator negligence? Alcohol is one of the biggest contributing factors in fatal boating accidents, and it’s no wonder.
If you are looking to go on a family boating trip this year and wish to keep things safe and accident-free, you will need to learn some basic safe boating tips.
Keep reading to find out what they are.
Table of Contents
Do Not Drink and Steer
There’s no point complicating things and risking your family’s life when going on a family boat. If you are the one in charge of steering the boat, then refrain from drinking alcohol throughout the trip. The idea of having a designated driver applies while boating as well.
Smoking weed while boating has the same repercussions as when driving a car. It can adversely affect your reaction times and your executive cognitive functions. Leave it for when you are back home (if you live in a state where it’s legal).
Check out freedomboatclub.com/ for some other fun things to do on board, besides drinking or smoking.
Make Sure Everyone’s Wearing a Life Jacket on Board
This is one of those safe boating tips that no one ever follows. But if you wish to keep your family safe when boating, you will want to ensure everyone wears a life jacket, even while on board. There’s no point storing life jackets on the boat if no one is taking advantage of them.
Also, make sure that any children you have on board put on their life jackets and keep them on throughout the journey, as young children are especially vulnerable to drowning and other boating accidents.
Have a Throwable Safety Device on Board
This is another one of those safety devices that no one ever thinks of until it saves someone’s life. It might be an additional item to carry around, and it might take up precious cargo space that could get used for something else.
But you must have one or two of these throwable safety devices when going on a family boat.
Avoid Speeding or Other Dangerous Driving Habits
Just like you need to avoid speeding and other reckless driving behaviors when driving a car, the same thing applies when you are driving a boat as well. This is even more true if you are a newbie at boating because you won’t understand the ways of the waterways yet.
Do not put your precious family at risk by doing dangerous things on board.
Family Boating Can Be Safe While Being Enormous Fun
The family boating tips above do not indicate that you need to give up on fun when you go out on the water. You can stay safe and still have boatloads (pun intended) of fun.
Read more interesting articles such as this one on our website and keep learning.
