Top 5 Items to Have in Case of a Boating Accident

Most of the time when people are enjoying themselves on their boats, they don’t think about accidents at all. Very few people think about that sort of thing until it is too late, which is unfortunate. I don’t think that people should obsess over tit, but they should at least take time to think things through and become prepared for the worst. After all, it doesn’t matter if you have a yacht, a sailboat, a speedboat, or any other kind of boat; accidents happen. So, here are some things you should consider getting so you can be ready just in case.

Life preservers are an essential part of marine safety. They are required by law to be aboard the watercraft, but people don’t always wear them unless something bad happens.

Life rings are also good to have aboard in case someone falls overboard. They are especially useful if the one who went overboard doesn’t have a life preserver and doesn’t know how to swim. Life rings are small so they don’t take up a lot of room. Have a rope tied to it so that if you need it, you can toss it out to someone in need of help and pull them back to the boat.

If you have a larger watercraft like a yacht or a sailboat, then you will have to prepare for bigger accidents. You may want to consider getting a life raft. This is especially true if you are planning an extended voyage since the longer you at sea the greater the risk of an accident. If the boat were to capsize or sink, having a life raft would ensure that you and all of the passengers will survive and reach shore once more.

Along the same lines of having a life raft, you should have some sort of beacon so that Search and Rescue and find you. There are several kinds of locator beacons that you could choose from, but the best kind would either be an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) or a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). They both work in a similar way, but an EPIRB is specifically designed for life rafts. A PLB is more geared for individual use, but if it is activated in a life raft full of people it will work just as well as an EPIRB, though it may not last as long.

On top of a life raft and a locator beacon, you will want to prepare a survival kit in the event of a capsized or sunken watercraft. A survival kit includes distilled water and small food reserves to be rationed out. You’ll also want a first aid kit, some rope, some compact fishing equipment, signaling flares and a signaling mirror, a waterproof flashlight, a floating knife, and a whistle. Having sea sickness pills could also prove helpful, as would some sort of pouch to catch rainwater. Put all of this stuff in a bag so that it will all stay together. Keep it near the life raft for easy access in the event of an emergency.

Having these things could save your life one day. Even if you never have an accident and never use the equipment, it is much better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Or to put it a simpler way, “It is better to be safe than sorry.”