By Bob Currie, Recreational Boating Safety Specialist
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Station Galveston Flotilla
Do you like to watch reality shows? Discovery has their own show called Naked and Afraid. Apparently it is popular because it has been shown for 17 seasons. The premise is you take a male and female duo and put them in a situation where they have no food, no water, no clothes, and only one survival item. Doesn’t this sound exactly like some of your boating friends? I am pretty sure I could write an additional 17 episodes and all of them would be about boaters, and there would be no winners. Everybody comes out severely injured or dead. The elements are there: no food, no water, no clothes, and one survival item that 83% of the boating public does not use.

Boating Safety Channel: No Food
On the Discovery Channel show, participants are dropped off in a location with no food. On the Boating Safety Channel, participants automatically leave food at home. After all, it’s just a three hour tour they are going on. Who knew the weather would start getting rough and their tiny ship would be tossed. Who knew they would hit a rock and knock a hole in the hull or they would be grounded on a shoal. Who knew that they should have brought a Marine VHF/FM radio to use for emergency communications. Who knew that a passenger had Type 2 Diabetes and would go into ketoacidosis or a low blood sugar coma. Who knew they could be stranded for hours or even days.

Boating Safety Channel: No Water
Water, water, everywhere, and all the boards did shrink
Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.
From Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

On the Discovery Channel show, the contestants are put in a location where they have to find water. They always do. On the Boating Safety Channel, the participants are already near water, although it may not be drinkable water, especially when their episode takes place in a boat on a saltwater sea. Although many recreational boaters could bring water, many bring a cooler of beer instead. Beer is 90% water, so this should not be a problem, right? Nothing like an ice cold beer out there on the water. But the 6-7% of a beer that is alcohol can quickly lead to dehydration. Dehydration exacerbates heat related injuries such as prickly heat, second degree sunburn, heat exhaustion, and deadly heat stroke. Heat related injuries are cumulative and progressive. Dehydration is a serious complication from not drinking enough water. Beer will not replace water and will cause you to become dehydrated more quickly.

Boating Safety Channel: No Clothes
I don’t know what the point of being naked is on the Discovery Channel shows; it may be an allure for people watching the show. Might see something that got by the censors, although there is not much left to censor when you get down to it. Boating Safety Channel contestants are usually hoping for a great tan. What most BSC contestants don’t realize is that a three hour tour is two and a half hours past the getting a tan stage and deep into the sunburn stage, even with copious applications of Factor 75 sunscreen.

Sunscreen, when properly used, can protect skin cells from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, including UVB (the rays that cause burning) and UVA (the rays that cause skin aging). The main problem with sunscreens is that people often don’t apply the amount of sunscreen recommended to receive the full protection labeled on the product packaging. (SPF, or Sun Protection Factor). Research shows that people only apply about a third of the recommended amount of sunscreen listed on the label. This means that the protection afforded is only a third of the time. Most sunscreens recommend reapplication after swimming or after a couple of hours. So the sunscreen is good for about 40 minutes if you don’t apply the recommended amount. If someone says hey you sure look pink, then the damage is done. You need to cover up to prevent further damage. This is where clothes come into play. Cool, damp cloths can help soothe the pain as it develops. I wouldn’t use beer, though. You will feel the alcohol burning pretty quickly.

Boating Safety Channel: One Survival Item
Everyone that knows me can guess what my recommended survival item would be if I were a contestant on the Boating Safety Channel Naked and Afraid show. No, it wouldn’t be the knife Sylvester Stallone used in the Rambo series, although that would be neat for camping and evading the National Guard. No, it’s a personal Flotation Device (PFD), also known as a life jacket, that I would ask for. But I am one of the very few people who would survive the show because I know that a PFD only works if you wear it. In my area last week three boaters died in two separate instances because they were not wearing a PFD. One survived his boat capsizing, but drowned when he tried to re-enter the boat to retrieve a PFD. The other two were ejected from their boat when it hit the jetty.

Summary
While you may enjoy watching The Discovery Channel show Naked and Afraid, the same show on the Boating Safety Channel can result in contestants receiving serious injuries or even result in their death. If you go out on the water, don’t forget food, water, clothes, and a Personal Flotation Device.

[RC: Jul-30-2024]