Safety for owners of small boats

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33382, 14 November 1973, Page 14

Safety for owners of small boats

A committee comprising professionals drawn from different sections of the Marine Division of the Ministry of Transport, has been set up to publicise the hazards of the water to the small boat owner! With boating increasing in popularity as a summer activity, the committee wants boat owners who are new to the sport to be aware of water safety rales before taking to the water. Heading the committee is Captain Gordon Henry, a British master mariner who came ashore in 1960 after serving in deep-sea rescue tugs in the Pacific. He joined the Meteorological Service in Wellington as Marine Meteorological

Officer, and six years ago turned his energies to small boat safety. Included on the committee are two master mariners, an extra master, a naval architect, an expert on harbour regulations, and the senior inspector of Fisheries from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Various pamphlets and leaflets written for owners of small boats are available free from the Marine Division, and a manual, “Safety in Small Craft,” can be obtained from bookshops. An enlarged edition will be published in December. Many safety rales are simply the application of normal intelligence, such as

using a boat for the purpose for which it has been designed, said Captain Henry. “It would be folly to hop into a new 10ft aluminium dingy, start up the outboard, and think it will make a Cook Strait crossing without a fair chance of running into some sort of trouble. “Experience, if not intelligence, will tell you not to do this. Experience is a. combination of knowing how to handle your boat, knowing something about weather prospects, local conditions, and making sure you are carrying all the right equipment.” The crew and passengers should have some knowledge of bow to sail a boat, said Captain Henry. “It is not unknown for the only person on board who can handle his boat to be washed overboard. Noone else is then capable of sailing back to pick him up. “It goes without saying; that the wearing of life: jackets at all times on the water is a ‘must’. And they' should be designed for the 1 people who are going to wear them. “It may not be realised, but children can slip through life jackets or belts that are more suitable for adults. Be sure you get: lifebelts specially made for children.” People thinking of buying boats or those who already have boats, but not very much experience, should attend courses in boat handling and safe boating, such as those run by the W.E.A., polytechnics, or the Marine Division, said Captain Henry. In addition to helping to run some of these courses and issuing instructional material to clubs, the Small Boat Safety Committee endeavoured to get its message across by displays at boat shows, publishing a regular newsletter, safety campaigns on radio and television and through educational films available to boat clubs and other interested organisations. “We want people to enjoy their boating and be competently equipped so that, they can. We don’t want 1 drowning statistics.” ■