Minnesota
Boating Guide (off site link)
What
accident causes the most deaths among
boaters? Falls overboard and capsizing. In
a small
boat, resist the urge to stand up. If you must
move
around, keep your weight low and close to the
center
of the craft.
 Wear
your personal flotation device (PFD or life
jacket), especially in small boats. Approved
PFDs
are now stylish, comfortable and practical.
Models
are available for all ages and for various
boating
activities. Wearing your PFD is the best “life
insurance” policy afloat.
Collisions with a second boat or another object
don’t just happen. They are usually the
result of
inattention, fatigue, and a lack of knowledge
about
local water conditions.
Keep an eye on the weather, especially on
larger lakes such as Mille Lacs, Leech, Lake
of the
Woods, or Superior. Obtain up-to-date weather
information
from a marine band radio, AM radio, or
by simply watching the sky. (Most bad weather
in
Minnesota comes from the west or southwest.)
If you are caught in rough weather, put on
your PFD, keep low in your boat and head for
the closest
shore. In heavy waves, your boat handles best
when
you head into the waves at an angle.
Inflatable toys are no substitutes for swimming
skills. Learn how to swim. Know your swimming
ability. Supervise youngsters around the water.
If someone is in trouble in the water, use
elementary
rescue methods first, such as throwing
something that floats to the victim. Only as
a last
resort should you ever enter the water to save
someone.
Even then, take a buoyant object like a PFD
with you.
Before you leave on a boating or fishing trip,
let someone know where you are going and when
you will return. If you run into trouble, this
will assist
authorities in looking for you.
 Hypothermia
(below normal body temperature) is an insidious
killer that is involved in perhaps as many
as one-half of Minnesota’s
boating deaths each year. Immersion in cold
water (less than 70˚F) causes the body
to lose heat faster than
it can produce it, decreasing the body’s
inner (core)
temperature. This decrease can cause symptoms
ranging from continual shivering, poor coordination,
and numb hands and feet in moderate cases to
hallucinations and eventual death in most extreme
situations. Cold water robs body heat 25 times
faster than air of the same temperature, so
if you capsize or fall
out of your boat, immediately attempt to reboard
your craft. Most small boats if overturned,
can be
righted and bailed out. In fact, modern small
craft
have built-in flotation that will support the
weight
of the occupants, even after capsizing or swamping.
If you can’t right the boat - climb on
top and hang
on.
Wearing your PFD will help protect you from
hypothermia in several ways. It decreases the
amount of movement necessary to remain afloat,
and it also helps to insulate you from heat
loss. A
PFD will also keep you afloat if you become
unconscious
due to hypothermia.
Booze
is bad news! Alcohol is involved in about one
third of all boating fatalities. In fact, a
Coast Guard study from a few years back showed
that a boater who was legally intoxicated was
10
times more likely to become involved in a fatal
accident
than one who was sober.
Alcohol also adversely affects vital body functions
such as balance, coordination, vision and judgment.
Combining the effects of cold water and alcohol
can speed the onset of hypothermia (a dangerous
cooling of the body’s inner temperature),
causing even good swimmers to drown in minutes
- often within a few yards of safety. Even
without drinking, four hours exposure to
environmental stressors such as sun, wind,
noise,
vibration and temperature produce a kind of
boater’s
hypnosis which can slow your reaction time
almost as much as if you were drunk.
Adding alcohol to
these stressors intensifies their effects to
a perilous
level.
THE “CIRCLE OF DEATH” Every
year, serious injuries and deaths occur when
operators let go of the steering wheel or outboard
steering handle while the boat is moving. A
phenomenon called steering torque forces the
motor
to slam left causing the boat to swerve sharply
to the right, throwing the victim into the
water.
The boat
continues to travel in a circle and returns
to strike the victim in the water, inflicting
massive
propeller wounds. Thus the term “circle
of
death.” The way to avoid circle of
death accidents is to
avoid letting go of the steering wheel or
handle until
the boat ceases all forward motion.
If you notice that it takes extra pressure
on the
steering wheel or handle, have your boat
serviced
immediately. On some smaller outboards, repair
may be as simple as tightening a bolt. For
outboards and inboard-outboard craft, corrective
measures may involve resetting the boat’s
trim tab, the small fin mounted on the anti-ventilation
or cavitation plate just behind the prop.
If the motor is equipped with an automatic
kill
switch, be sure to fasten the lanyard to
your life
jacket or some article of clothing such as
a belt loop.
If you do fall out of your boat, the lanyard,
which is
attached to the electrical system, disables
the motor,
keeping the boat from circling back to hit
you.
Be sure that clamp-on swivel seats are tightly
secured
and that seat backs are sturdy enough to
withstand
the shock of a victim being thrown against
them.
SUNKEN
BOATS & VEHICLES Minnesota law now requires that watercraft
and
motor vehicles (including cars, trucks, snowmobiles
and ATVs) that sink in a lake or river be
removed
by the owner within 30 days. Owners must
also
notify the county sheriff within 48 hours.
If the
watercraft or vehicle is not removed - the
local unit
of government can remove it and charge
the owner
two to five times the cost of removal.
Children under 10 years
old are now required to wear
a life jacket while boating in Minnesota. *Except when boat is anchored and being used
as a swimming platform
or the child is below decks or in an enclosure
or cabin on the craft.
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