With increasingly longer days and warmer temperatures, the water is calling boaters of all stripes who are looking to get that deck under them moving again. But it’s worth stopping to think about the dangers that lurk before you throw off that bow or stern line and head out across the waves.
In 2018, two Montgomery County men were found dead in the Potomac River near Cobb Island. Their 13-foot boat was found still running, turning circles just a mile from the island. Maryland Natural Resources Police believed it to be an accident.
Later that year in October, Brandywine native Andrew Marshall Turner, a fisherman and a marine scientist who worked as the facilities manager at Morgan State University’s Patuxent Environment and Aquatic Research Laboratory in St. Leonard, was found dead in the waters of the Patuxent River at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.
He had taken a group of students out crabbing and stayed behind to finish up. He was found dead in the water hours later.
Some of these deaths occur when a person is not wearing a life jacket.
U.S. Coast Guard statistics show that drowning was the reported cause of death in four out of every five recreational boating fatalities, and that 86% of those who drowned were not wearing life jackets.
Among the most important boater safety tips to help reduce those statistics in Maryland are to wear your life jacket and have an appropriate number of life jackets available for passengers on your vessel.
State law requires that they be worn by anyone younger than 13 on boats less than 21 feet in length at all times while underway. It’s certainly a good idea for everyone to wear them on any size boat. And to work as intended, they should fit properly.
To reinforce that point about life jackets, DNR and others are celebrating Wear your Life Jacket to Work Day on Friday, May 15. Most of us probably can’t or won’t do that, but we absolutely should all wear a life jacket on our play-on-the-water days.
The National Safe Boating Council, a nonprofit dedicated to helping create a safe boating experience for all boaters, is inviting those brave enough to wear a life jacket to work to snap a picture and post it on social media using #wearyourlifejacketatworkday and tagging the Safe Boating Campaign @boatingcampaign.
The DNR also points out that those born after July 1, 1972, need to get certified to operate a boat. And everyone who gets behind the helm should know the rules of navigation.
And, of course, no one should be operating a boat under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
But there’s at least one other safety tip that seems almost too simple and logical: Check the weather before you leave the dock or shore.
In late 2016, a tragic boat accident on the Potomac River off St. Mary’s County left three fishermen dead, one each from Hughesville, Mechanicsville and White Plains. A fourth was found alive clinging to the overturned hull of a 32-foot fishing boat they had taken out.
Bad weather had caused the boat to capsize, the Natural Resources Police reported after an investigation, noting strong wind gusts and high waves with a water temperature in the 50s. The boat was reportedly less than 15 minutes from shore at Leonardtown when it capsized, and all were wearing life jackets.
That last bit should send a chill down any boater’s spine, and remind them that bad weather and water make a bad combination — even with a life jacket.
National Safe Boating Week will take place from May 16 to 22. During this week, the Safe Boating Campaign will provide daily tips for boaters on social media.
