3 Boating Safety Tips: What Every Boater Needs to Know

While sailing around the world, I had plenty of fun experiences... and plenty of close calls. I often felt alone in raging storms, 50-foot seas, and howling wind. Days were scarier than nights because I could see the surrounding dangers.

I stayed alive more than once because I had the proper safety gear and the knowledge to use it.

Whether you’re a recreational boater or a professional captain, your knowledge of the water is the difference between telling the story of your close call and becoming a cautionary tale.

Here, I’m sharing the essential boating safety tips that kept me alive on my adventures.

Why You Need Boating Safety Tips

Boating is a risky activity, but certain conditions elevate that risk. As a boater, you must be aware of dangers, including the following:

Weather Changes

Calm water can turn rough quickly. Being prepared helps you handle trouble and stay safe as conditions change.

Proximity to Help

You’re not steps away from help on the water, like in an apartment or on a city street. Even if you have an emergency 100 feet off the shoreline, it might be 45 minutes or longer before help arrives. 

Others’ Safety

You’re responsible for every passenger onboard your boat. Not all passengers are safety experts (and those who think they are probably aren’t), and you must keep your passengers safe. When everyone follows safety rules, the water becomes safer for all.

Other boaters in your area could put you at greater risk. Stay aware and follow the rules to keep the water safer.

Environmental Conditions

Safe boating goes beyond your vessel and your passengers. You need to consider how you affect the water and wildlife. For example, ensure you don’t spill fuel while filling your boat’s tank.

The environment plays a role in your safety, too. Conditions are very different in an ocean, a bay, and a river. Think about how your distance from shore, the water depth, your proximity to rocks, and even the local wildlife may impact your experience.

3 Boating Safety Tips

Three boating safety tips — knowing how to use the radio, get someone out of the water, and perform CPR — can help you navigate most of these challenges.

1. How to Use Your VHF Radio

Here’s an example of what can go wrong: A family was enjoying a day on the water when they suddenly hit a submerged telephone pole. It punctured the boat, and the vessel started taking on water. The family rushed to the radio to call for help, but they made a few mistakes in their panic.

First, they used the wrong channel. Nobody was listening, which wasted precious time as the boat took on more water. They started screaming and yelling when they finally got on the right channel — Channel 16. People could hear them, but they were so garbled that no one understood them.

To make matters worse, the family couldn’t describe where they were, so even people who figured out their issue couldn’t help them immediately.

Luckily, I was in the area and could see the boat sinking. I called the Coast Guard and provided the information they needed to help the family. The family made it out safe and sound, but it was a close call. Knowing how to use the radio properly could have expedited the rescue.

Operating a VHF radio is relatively simple — unless you’ve never done it before. A crucial boating safety tip is understanding how to use your radio before an emergency. Follow these guidelines:

• Understand simple communication: VHF radios are one-way, meaning only one person can speak.
• Use the right channel: Channel 16 is for emergencies, not regular chatting. Once you hail someone on Channel 16, switch to another channel to keep the emergency line open for others.
• Give clear information: Provide your exact location, a detailed description of your boat, and the kind of help you need. The Coast Guard needs to know whether it’s rescuing someone from the water, helping a broken-down vessel, or saving someone having a heart attack to prepare the right resources.
• Practice using the radio: You might panic and fumble in an emergency, but when using your radio is second nature, you get the help you need rapidly. 

2. How to Rescue a Person From the Water

Retrieving a person from the water is a time-sensitive, high-stakes situation. How you handle it depends on the boat, the water, the weather, the time of day, everyone’s experience level, and many other factors, but typically, follow these broad steps:

1. Be ready: Make sure you and your passengers wear life jackets and know what to do in an emergency. Running drills is another way to prepare for rescue operations.
2. Yell, “Man overboard!”: This will alert everyone on the boat to the emergency. Also, call out the location (starboard, port, bow, stern).
3. Keep watching: Losing a person in the water is all too easy, so assigning someone to point at them nonstop is critical. 
4. Throw flotation devices: Even if the person overboard has drifted far out of reach, a flotation device will float in the same direction as the person, giving the captain a better idea of where they are.
5. Return to the person: Maneuver the boat safely toward the fallen individual. Try to mitigate the risk of running them over or hitting them with the boat’s propellers.
6. Prepare for rescue: Recover the person using appropriate life-saving gear like block and tackle or a Lifesling. 

Have your rescue plans in place before going out on the water. I’ve been in man-overboard situations a few times and jumped right into action. Many crew members ask me how I come up with solutions so quickly.

The secret? I thought through these scenarios before they became emergencies. During quiet times, I looked at lines and decided what to do if they broke or how I’d react if someone fell. I don’t have to rely on quick thinking to get straight to work.

You’ll have to adjust your plan to count for factors like low visibility, injuries, and panic. But remember, as long as you rescue the person from the water, you did it all right!

3. Perform CPR and First Aid

Many boaters neglect to learn critical first aid skills, including how to perform CPR. They may think an emergency won’t happen to them or that they don’t have to worry about an injury. After all, they’re confident in their boating skills, and the Coast Guard is only a quick radio call away.

But help won’t magically appear when you need it. The Coast Guard could be on another call, or their resources could be limited, leaving you alone with an injured passenger for two or three hours.

But when someone is flopping around on your deck like a flounder, or has a fish hook in their eye, or breaks a bone, or slices their foot open, immediate first aid prevents worsening injuries. Delaying life-saving treatments like CPR causes brain damage and reduces survival chances.

I knew a couple who were out on the water when the husband had a heart attack. The wife didn’t know how to use the radio or how to perform CPR. By the time she got another boat’s attention, it was too late. 

Don’t let a tragedy like that happen to you. Keep a marine first aid kit onboard your boat and learn how to treat injuries and respond to other emergencies.

Be Ready for Any Situation: Educate Yourself

Boating safety tips like these could save your life and others on the water, but there’s plenty more to learn. Boating safely isn’t just about avoiding accidents. It’s about being prepared to handle whatever situation the water throws your way.

Earning a captain’s license provides the knowledge and experience to keep yourself and your passengers safe in emergencies. 

Mariners Learning System offers a comprehensive curriculum covering fundamental and advanced safety skills. You can also test your knowledge before boarding your boat through helpful quizzes, practice tests, and personalized feedback.

Using these methods, Mariners equips boaters with the theoretical knowledge and the practical experience to execute crucial procedures under pressure.

Ready to get started? Browse our full course list today.