by Charles Johnson

Created on: May 21, 2008

A lot of people get into boating every year, some of them may have
never been on a boat before. If you can not get the dealer or the person
who sold you a boat, you should take some type of boating safety
course. The US Coast Guard or the Power Squadron has a free boating
course. Most of the time all you have to do is buy is a book about
boating safety and general boating rules on the waterway. The rules

are not hard to learn and they may save your life or another persons.

When you are new to boating you should always take another person
with you who has been boating for a while. There are all kinds of things
that can go wrong on a boat that a new boater will not know anything
about it. You will also need to learn how to operate the boat before
using the boat by your self. I have seen a lot of new boaters not even
be able to start their own boat after putting it in the water. I always try
to help them when I see this happen. There are so many different
ways you can hurt your self while being on or around boats.

New and old boaters should should talk about the different safety
things that are required for the area where you are going boating.
They are different because the weather and the type of water you
will be boating in. The shoes you wear on a boat can hurt you if they
are not the right kind. Most shoes that are used in every day life
will get you hurt on a boat because they are too slick on the bottom.
I have had to change shoes before because I noticed where I had been
walking was leaving small black marks on the deck.

The safety equipment on board must be checked at least once a year
for defects due to wear and tear. When you get the Coast Guard to
check the safety things on your boat you will get a safety sticker for
your boat window. When the water portrol can see a safety sticker
on your boat most of the time they will never stop you for a safety check.
This is a check that I have done at the start of boating season every year.
A lot of new boaters will just get the basic safety things that the law will
require, in some cases this is not enough for your type of boating.

If you have children on board there are a list of safety rules that the
water protoal is always watching very close. The boating rules for
smaller children have to be watched more than the adult rules such
as when and where to wear their life jackets. Children like to run
when they are on boats, it is very hard to get them to understand
how dangerous that can be. They should always be wearing a life
jacket just in case they do fall overboard .

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