The 2020 boating statistics are out....

[hughespat57]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard released its 2020 Recreational Boating Statistics Report Wednesday, revealing that there were 767 boating fatalities nationwide in 2020, a 25.1 percent increase from 2019.

From 2019 to 2020, the total number of accidents increased 26.3 percent (4,168 to 5,265), and the number of non-fatal injured victims increased 24.7 percent (2,559 to 3,191)....


U.S. Coast Guard releases 2020 Boating Safety Statistics Report
U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 06/30/2021 10:05 AM EDT
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCG/bulletins/2e60ddf

Whole report direct:
https://uscgboating.org/library/accident-statistics/Recreational-Boating-Statistics-2020.pdf

 

[Island Time Buffalo]

In case anyone on this forum needed to know what "COVID Boater" means....

 

[JHornsby3]

And how many are contenders for the Darwin Award?

 

[Pirate Lady]

25% is a lot. Dam. Lots of ways to die but sinking below the dark brown, fish smelling, sewage runoff, Chesapeake Bay, then being eaten by the crabs until my bloated remains float is a bad way to go.

 

[Pirate Lady]

I recall a dude drowned off his boat off Worton Creek in summer. Like a month later the long shoremen at Sea Girt in the harbor fished out his crab eaten bloated remains. That was not an open casket.

 

[El Capitan]

Lots of newbies out there. Figures.

 

[km1125]

25% is a lot. Dam. Lots of ways to die but sinking below the dark brown, fish smelling, sewage runoff, Chesapeake Bay, then being eaten by the crabs until my bloated remains float is a bad way to go.

But at least when you go, you'd be doing something you enjoy. I'd much rather go the way you describe than laying in a hospital bed with a ventilator tube stuck down my throat.

 

[hughespat57]

If you dont dive into the full details here is just the Executive Summary

 

[JB MARSHALL]

That chart is scary stuff to read…. It puts you on high alert when off the dock for sure.

be safe out there over the holiday weekend

 

[Golfman25]

In case anyone on this forum needed to know what "COVID Boater" means....

So are those covid deaths then?

 

[hughespat57]

So are those covid deaths then?

That chart is scary stuff to read…. It puts you on high alert when off the dock for sure.

be safe out there over the holiday weekend

I'm sure that any of these deaths that tested positive at the autopsy got listed as COVID "related".

If you correlate deaths for a few of the categories:

Drowning without a life jacket 450
Falls overboard 181
Swamping Sinking 84 ----> 265
Open Motorboat 260
Canoe\kayak 131
Pontoon 53 -----> 444

Wear the damn life jacket... single best thing you can do on smaller boats particularly.
Even a boat my size anytime I leave the cockpit I put on my Stearns vest.
The side decks are so narrow and the bow rails so low anytime I go forward on deck I have the jacket on.
When I'm operating single, which is fairly often for me, I wear the jacket even in the cockpit.

 

[Pirate Lady]

If you dont dive into the full details here is just the Executive Summary
View attachment 108084

Covid Boater is #2, alcohol is #7. So an experienced drunk is 2/3 safer than a sober newbie. Why dont the cops lock up all the newbies? Be safer for the drunks, less to run in to.

 

[hughespat57]

half as many accidents, but twice the deaths, so the drunks are going for the Darwin Awards

 

[Pirate Lady]

Good point missed that. Read Chesapeake magazine today. Kayak folks die a lot. Strong current overtakes them, Some get stuck in the mud flats of the Bay, rescue boats cant get to them so cops have to bring a helicopter to pull them out.

 

[Pirate Lady]

And then there was the article about 2 out state boaters doing 30mph, in dark, on the winding Sassafras, impacted a bouy with a really BIG red light on top, threw the girl out the bowrider, she lived. Guessing #2 & #7.

 

[hughespat57]

And then there was the article about 2 out state boaters doing 30mph, in dark, on the winding Sassafras, impacted a bouy with a really BIG red light on top, threw the girl out the bowrider, she lived. Guessing #2 & #7.

I have seen quite a few news articles and videos of boats hitting fixed objects, particularly ATONs. I have wondered recently of those 542 incidents above how many are using chart plotters like a car GPS? "Turn left now..."

from Garmin
"Garmin® GPS receivers are accurate to within 15 meters (49 feet) 95% of the time. Generally, users will see accuracy within 5 to 10 meters (16 to 33 feet) under normal conditions."

Ok, is running at 30 knots "normal"?
You could think your going to miss that ATON by what you see on the plotter while heading dead at it. (pun intended, 62 deaths/389 injuries)

 

[km1125]

I have seen quite a few news articles and videos of boats hitting fixed objects, particularly ATONs. I have wondered recently of those 542 incidents above how many are using chart plotters like a car GPS? "Turn left now..."

from Garmin
"Garmin® GPS receivers are accurate to within 15 meters (49 feet) 95% of the time. Generally, users will see accuracy within 5 to 10 meters (16 to 33 feet) under normal conditions."

Ok, is running at 30 knots "normal"?
You could think your going to miss that ATON by what you see on the plotter while heading dead at it. (pun intended, 62 deaths/389 injuries)

Many years ago I got a "new to me" boat that had a LORAN. Only digital display, no plotting capabilities. I quickly learned how to mark spots so I could using its routing to 'backtrack' a route. One evening we took a few folks across a lake over to a restaurant. On the way back I was messing with the LORAN to find the heading to the next buoy that I had marked on the way there. I knew (felt) I was getting near the buoy where the turn should be but couldn't figure out why the LORAN wasn't pointing me in the right direction. I kept screwing with the LORAN until someone got my attention because were were headed DIRECTLY at the buoy and I would have run it down if I hadn't corrected course. Thankful that I didn't hit it, I have remembered that lesson ever since.