Our general boating page covers a wide variety of topic that are not specific to any one type of watercraft. Topics covered include boating safety, weather and tides, nautical history, and a few other miscellaneous topics.
Boating Safety
Knowing how to stay safe when doing any kind of boating is extremely important. Every year there are several thousands of boating accidents that result in hundreds of deaths, many of which could have been prevented had a few precautions been taken prior to heading out on the water. An unsettling portion of boating related deaths were the result of drowning in 2014 (approximately 75 percent) and of those the majority of the victims (over 80 percent) were found to have been on the water without life jackets.
Along with the use of life jackets, it is also important for those boating to remember that boating while intoxicated (BWI) is extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. Many people view boating as a purely recreational activity and therefore don’t think anything of throwing back a few beers while on the water or shortly before; however, boat operators with a blood alcohol content of only .1 percent are nearly ten times as likely to die in boating accidents than their sober peers.
Explore the following resources for additional boating safety information:
- Boating Safety – It Could Mean Your Life
- Boat Safe Boating Safety Links
- Boating Safety for Beginners
- Boating First Aid: Cuts and Bites
- The National Safe Boating Council
- Boat-Ed Coast Guard Recognized Safety Courses and Materials
- NOAA Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking
- SeaTow Captain’s Classroom
Additional Information
There is much more to learn about boating. Nautical history is a fascinating topic that many people have spent a great deal of time studying and learning about. It’s no surprise that boating has become such a widely used and known topic in music and literature. Traditional folk songs are full of stories about crossing water, fishing, and, unfortunately, ship wrecks. The resources below provide information on additional miscellaneous boating topics including history.