Stay Safe on the Water: Boating Safety Tips for a Fun and Secure Experience

Ride INSIDE the boat at ALL times!

Whether you own a boat or you are renting a boat or you are enjoying your friend’s boat, being safe is most important. Everyone wants to have a fun time and create lasting memories but if you are not careful, those memories could turn bad.

When you have the boat shut off, feel free to move around, swim in the water, look over the sides of the boat to look in the water, etc.

Whenever the boat is ON and especially when the boat is in MOTION, EVERYONE on board needs to be sitting and NOT hanging on the outside of the boat.

Before the vessel operator starts the boat, they should do a safety check of all the passengers and the boat. Here is what the operator should be looking for:

Check to see if all the doors are closed
Make sure everyone is seated inside the rails.
Nobody should be hanging or sitting over the front, side, or back of the boat. Everyone should be seated in a seat.
There shouldn’t be anyone leaning over the side of the boat
Take a head count and make sure no passengers are in the water or missing
Passengers who are required to wear life jackets should now have them on and properly buckled (more life jacket safety tips here)
Check that the latter is up and secure and that nothing is tied to your boat ie. crab lines, rope, etc.

A friendly reminder from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources:

Bow riding or sitting on the edge of a moving boat is illegal in Maryland

DNR warns a fall can put you in the path of the boat’s propeller, causing serious injuries or death.

Here are a couple of reminders from DNR:

A typical three-blade propeller running at 3,200 rpm can inflict up to 160 cuts in one second.

A typical propeller can travel from head to toe in less than one-tenth of a second.

Most propeller strikes are preventable.

If you’ve got passengers on your boat, here are tips to keep them safe

NEVER allow passengers to ride on the bow, gunwale, transom, seat backs, or other spots where they might fall overboard.

Wear your engine cut-off switch lanyard and your life jacket at ALL times. If the lanyard is removed from the switch, the engine will not shut off.

Assign a passenger to keep watch around the propeller area of your boat when people are in the water.

Consider purchasing propeller safety devices for your boat.

This information is being shared with you to be helpful for your next boating experience. It is not to scare you from enjoying the water and if you keep these tips in mind, you will not only have a fun time but a safe time boating.

Odyssea Watersports offers top-of-the-line pontoon boat rentals from 52nd St bayside. When you rent a pontoon boat from Odyssea Watersports, there will be a boat instructor who will go over the boat with you, show you the safety equipment, and provide you with safe boating tips. They are more than happy to help answer your questions even if you are on the water you can just give them a call.

For more information on availability and pricing, click here.

doors open on a pontoon boat