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Boating/Fishing Safety
As I get closer to getting my own boat, I'm reading about boating
accidents so I'll be as ready as possible to avoid making mistakes. I'm also going to take any safety courses available, and hire an experienced captain to be with me and show me the ropes for the first time the boat touches water. I owe it to myself, my passengers, and fellow boaters. I found a site that reports years of Pennsylvania fatal accidents in rivers, lakes and ponds. Many of the accidents are canoeists and kayakers getting caught in fast water "strainers" or just overturning in hypothermia-inducing waters. But there are also plenty of motor boat accidents. It is really surprising to see how many people with no experience on water make fatal excursions there. I made plenty of dangerous/stupid moves myself when I was young, but never when it would endanger others (well, excluding the drunk driving stuff for which I have plausible deniability.) But how somebody would take his family out on a boat without doing all he could to ensure their safety is beyond me. I'm glad the site reports only the bare facts of these accidents, because each is a tragedy. Reading these as news stories would bring my spirit low and I wouldn't read so far. As I read about these accidents, it's clear that the most common are easily avoided. Don't overload your boat. Don't anchor the stern of a low-transom boat. Don't speed where you shouldn't. Don't get drunk and fall overboard. Don't venture into seas/weather that your boat isn't meant for. Don't horse around. Don't capsize your boat. Don't get swamped. Always be attentive. Then there's the "do's" regarding maintenance, safety equipment, planning, etc, which I won't get into here. In most cases where experienced boaters die, their initial mistake is fatally compounded by lack of plans "B" and "C". And those plans are most often related to good PFD management, because simple drowning is usually the ultimate cause of death. Once your boat is gone, it's just you and the water. Accidents happen to experienced boaters with Power Squadron training as well as neophytes. And "very good swimmers" drown all the time. In any case, the best laid plans often come to naught, and stuff happens. So you simply have a Plan "B" or "C" kick into action. That's what I thought until my reading got me to this accident. Now I'm gonna need to come up with Plans D through Z. "An 81-year old angler lost his life when he capsized his 12-foot rowboat. The likely course of events is that the victim was anchored, fishing and got his lure hooked into his anchor line. He attempted to remove the lure’s hook form the anchor line, untying the anchor. During this procedure he capsized the small boat, catching the lure and hooks in his left sleeve, which then caught in his trousers, restricting the movement of his left hand. As he rolled from the vessel, he caused the fishing line to wrap around his feet. He also snagged his hand on a lure further restricting his movement. PFDs were onboard but not worn. The boat was a johnboat and had a seat welded on top of the operator one increasing its instability. When divers found the victim’s body, they had to cut fishing line so they could bring it to the surface. The victim could not swim and was a very experienced boater. It is unknown he had any formal instruction in boating safety." --Vic |
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