By Bob Currie, Recreational Boating Safety Specialist
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Base Galveston Flotilla
A perfect storm is a particularly bad or critical state of affairs created by a powerful concurrence of factors. No one thing causes a perfect storm; rather, it takes several negative factors that by themselves do not necessarily lead to disaster but combined with other factors can be disastrous in consequence. This column will discuss some of those negative factors and how you can stop the perfect storm that leads to drowning from happening by overcoming those negative factors.

The Base Galveston Flotilla of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary operates out of the US Coast Guard base on Galveston Island. They aid the Coast Guard by providing maritime observation patrols in Galveston Bay; by providing recreational boating vessel safety checks; and by working alongside Coast Guard members in maritime accident investigation, small boat training, providing a safety zone, Aids to Navigation verification, cooking in base and station galleys and aboard cutters; and on the Coast Guard Drone Team.

Perfect Storm: Drowning
In 2019 the US Coast Guard counted 4,168 boating accidents that involved 613 deaths. Where cause of death was known, 79% of fatal boating accident victims drowned. In order to drown from a boating accident, two things have to happen. First, you must end up in the water; second, your face must be immersed in the water for longer than you can hold your breath. There are some preventative measures for both factors.

Person in the Water Prevention
You are not going to drown if you don’t end up in the water. There are several factors that can cause you to end up in the water, and there are preventative measures for each of those factors.

1. Overloaded Boat: As much time as I spend on the water, I see the overloaded boat scenario almost daily. Many boating accidents where people end up in the water are due to the boat being overloaded with passengers and/or gear. Most boats come with a capacity plate or sticker that tells you the maximum number of persons for which the boat is rated. There is also a maximum weight of passengers and equipment, and you must take both into consideration when following the capacity plate restrictions.
2. Over-Powered Boat: My first powerboat was a 16-foot open bow runabout with a 50 hp engine. With my family aboard it would run about 30 mph, and that was fine for us until our sons got old enough to want to ski. I could pull one person just fine, but they wanted to ski two at a time, so I upgraded to a bigger boat with a more powerful engine. Imagine my surprise when I saw the new owner of my first boat on the river, and the boat was now powered by a 90 hp engine, a full 30 hp greater than the capacity plate. The engine had the stern so hunkered down in the water that it was evident that it wouldn’t take much to swamp the boat. The new owner told me the boat would easily hit 60 mph. We saw the new owner occasionally that summer, and after a period of a couple of months we didn’t see him. I later found out that he had sunk the boat when water washed over the stern. The lesson is obvious: don’t over-power your boat. There is a very good reason the capacity plate provides a maximum horsepower limitation.
3. Improper Seating: The rule is simple. Stay seated when underway. Even the slightest change in speed or heading can toss a standing person overboard. Boat captains should also assign seating in such a manner as to evenly distribute the weight. Never allow someone to sit on the bow, the stern, or on the gunwales. All passengers should sit in a proper seat.
4. Sudden Changes in Speed or Direction: Sudden changes in speed or direction can send even seated passengers over the side if they are made abruptly and without warning. Let your passengers know before coming out on the throttle (say “Coming up!”), shutting off on the throttle (say “Coming down!”), or changing heading significantly (say “Turning to the left!”).

Head Under Water Prevention
I love to tell the story of the boat operator whose boat I was providing a Coast Guard Vessel Safety Check who told me he didn’t need a life jacket because he was a “world class swimmer.” I asked him how well he swam while unconscious. I gave him great pause and failed his inspection for not having any life jackets aboard. I don’t know if I changed his mind about life jackets, but I did give him great pause.

1. No Life Jacket: In fully 85% of all boating accident fatalities in which the person drowned the drowning victim was not wearing a life jacket. I know, millions of people each year make it home safely without ever donning a life jacket. The “it won’t happen to me” attitude is what keeps our drowning figures so high. The fact is a life jacket can’t save you if you aren’t wearing it, and two corollaries to that rule are you don’t have time to dig life jackets out of a storage locker when things go bad and even if you could get to the life jacket it is impossible to put on in the water. Why do people continue to tempt fate by not wearing a life jacket?
2. Improper Life Jacket: What?! I put a life jacket on, you say, so what more do you want? Well, how about wearing a life jacket suited your size and for the area and type of seas in which you intend to boat? Children must wear life jackets for children based on size and the life jacket must fit properly. Life jackets are also rated for the type of water (inshore, near shore, and offshore) and for their ability to turn the face of an unconscious person upward. Life jackets range from Not Likely to Highly Likely to turn the face of an unconscious victim upward. My mention of swimming while unconscious to the boater above was quite on point. Your chance of being knocked unconscious when thrown from a moving boat is quite high. You don’t even have to be moving. The chief of police of an area city drowned when he was knocked unconscious as he went overboard. I know many people who will wear a life jacket while underway yet take it off for comfort when they stop to fish. Bad idea. You are the safest when you wear your life jacket at all times.
3. Unable to Escape an Overturned Boat: It happens. Part of our Coast Guard seamanship training is learning the procedures for escaping from an overturned boat. The recommendations below are taken directly from our training.
• Take every effort to escape; the boat may sink or you may run out of air if you fail to try
• Check for survival and flotation equipment to take with you
• PFD’s may have to be removed temporarily – tie a line to it to pull it out after exiting
• Avoid the stern if the engines are still running
• If caught in an open cockpit area, swim down below the gunwales and surface alongside the boat; hold your hand over your head palm up as you surface
• Locate an exit route and reference points from the compartment to open water
• Swim underwater through the exit and out from the boat
• The best swimmer should exit first trailing a line behind him
• Next are the poor swimmers followed by a good swimmer
• If the poor swimmers are left alone inside they are likely to panic and not escape
• The first swimmer, when free, should tap on the hull to signal success in getting out to the others
• Cold water decreases the time you can hold your breath. Practice before leaving to avoid panic during escape
• Climb onto the hull if possible; you are more subject to hypothermia in the water than in the air, even if the air temperature is colder than the water temperature.
4. Boating Under the Influence: Alcohol use by both the boat operator and the passengers is the number one contributing factor to boating accident deaths.

Summary
It often takes more than one factor to cause the perfect storm that results in drowning during a boating accident. Your best chance of avoiding drowning is to remove as many of those factors from the equation as possible.

For more information on boating safety, please visit the Official Website of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Boating Safety Division at www.uscgboating.org. Questions about the US Coast Guard Auxiliary or our free Vessel Safety Check program may be directed to me at [email protected]. I am available to perform free Vessel Safety Checks, and I will come to your location to perform them. SAFE BOATING!

[Feb-1-2021]