Trauma

June 23, 2023

With warmer weather finally arriving, residents of western Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota and northern Iowa are heading to the lakes and rivers with their boats. They want to get rowboats, canoes, kayaks, sailboats, speedboats and pontoons in the water as often as they can, especially on nice days.

Along with recreation in the sunshine, however, come potential injuries, which trauma centers at Mayo Clinic and the entire regional network would like to help prevent.

Nicole M. Guerton, M.S., a trauma center injury prevention coordinator at Mayo Clinic's Rochester campus, has eight boating safety tips to pass along to your community:

1. Visibility. Making yourself visible — the vessel and the people on it — is critical. Guerton suggests bright-colored clothing and life jackets if camouflage is not essential for the sport. She also recommends improving your boat's visibility by any means available. Guerton urges boaters to err on the side of caution and assume there will be other vessels or objects around corners and in unfamiliar areas. To further boost visibility, she recommends appointing a spotter in the front of any sizeable vessel.
2. Life jackets. On a boat, incidents can happen in an instant. Anyone can fall off the boat with an event such as a medical emergency or an impact from an object. Guerton mentions that those who grew up around water or are strong swimmers often are especially lax about life jacket use. Sometimes, people take off their life jackets because they find life jackets uncomfortable or don't want to ruin their tan lines. Guerton says that life jackets have a lot to offer, even if they are a minor inconvenience. They keep people from drowning and provide visibility with vivid colors. She explains that the best life jacket is the one that fits you and that you will wear consistently.
3. Helmets. Though unnecessary for all boat sports, Guerton strongly recommends helmets for river rafting or other boating that poses a high likelihood of falling out of the boat. She explains that higher speeds and unpredictability of waterways, such as murky water, increase risk.
4. Maintenance. Guerton says that to protect your family's and friends' safety, it is crucial to maintain your vessel and ensure it is in good working order before you put it in the water.
5. Equipment. Familiarity with your equipment, whether using a particular style paddle, steering and braking with a speedboat or pontoon, or knowing how to adjust the footholds in a kayak, is important to safely operate a vessel. Along with knowledge of your equipment comes awareness of which parts of the vessel or equipment might be dangerous — such as fishing hooks or a propeller — so you can take extra care.
6. Footwear. Though Guerton acknowledges that many people enjoy going barefoot while boating, having footwear on just in case, especially floating footwear, can be smart.
7. Substance use. Many boaters enjoy sipping a beer, hard cider or other alcoholic beverages, and they pack a cooler expressly for this purpose. However, Guerton advises against operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
8. Weather. Watch the weather before and during your trip to increase your boating party's safety, says Guerton, as this factor is completely beyond your control. She says weather patterns can change quickly and present danger for those aboard your boat.

"It takes just a split second to encounter an emergency," she says. "In case of crashes or unintentional, unplanned circumstances, I recommend knowing the time of day, where your vessel is located and what individuals are on the boat."

How to let your community know about boating safety tips

In addition to familiarizing yourself with boating safety guidelines and using them with family and friends, Guerton believes it is imperative to remind people in your community of these tips. She suggests the following tactics can be effective to get the attention of community members:

1. Social media. If you already have social media accounts active and visible, Guerton says this is a wonderful strategy for getting the word out about boating safety.
2. News media. Guerton encourages making use of connections with local news media to pitch a story on boating safety or establishing new local media relationships. She says that a live interview with someone professionally involved in patrols, such as a police officer or department of natural resources officer, is ideal. These individuals have extensive knowledge of what they encounter while out checking boats and can share safety recommendations from these experiences.

For more information

Refer a patient to Mayo Clinic.