Whenever going out on the water, always ensure you have the proper safety equipment and know what to do in the event of an emergency.
That’s the gist of a series of boating safety videos released by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation Oct. 5 to 9. The series of four videos include an overview of basic boat safety equipment, the importance of checklists and trip plans, how to navigate wakes and waterways and how to attract attention to oneself in the event of an emergency.
“It is absolutely critical that everyone on board has a properly fitting life jacket or personal flotation device (PFD),” said Marine Program Coordinator Tess Forbes. “Rope is incredibly useful for many different purposes, you can toss it out to a person in distress, you can tie up your boat. Whatever you can think of, this rope can probably do it.”
IRC’s Innovation, Inuvialuit Science, and Climate Change Division worked together to create the videos featuring Forbes and IRC’s Genomes Research Assistant Anika Cockney-Goose.
By law, Transport Canada requires all boats to be equipped with enough personal flotation devices, (PFDs, or life jackets) for all passengers. Also required is a heaving line, a piece of rope to tie the boat to the shore or to pull someone in from the water in an emergency, and a bailer or hand pump to get water out from inside the boat.
Shouting while treading water can be tiring, so having a whistle or air horn to signal others is also key. A means of moving the boat through paddles or oars is also essential and having an anchor attached to 15 metres of rope can assure the vessel doesn’t drift downstream in an emergency.
Flashlights or flares are also required safety equipment, though Forbes recommends a waterproof flashlight for their reliability. If travelling at night, navigation lights are also a must. Finally, any vehicle with a built-in motor, fixed fuel tank or fuel-based electrical gear must have a class 5BC fire extinguisher on board.
Other items not required by highly recommended are a radio to communicate with other boaters or people in town, or an InReach to communicate over satellite network.
One thing the IRC wants people to remember is that life jackets are designed based on size and weight. An easy way to tell if a life jacket fits or not is to try and pull it over your head while wearing it. It should not be able to come up past the chin. If the jacket is too loose, tighten the middle buckle first, then the lower buckle.
Forbes added that PFDs can be borrowed for free from the Midnight Sun Complex.
Rule of thirds
Making sure people know where you are going and having enough supplies to get there and back is paramount. The IRC recommends following the Rule of Thirds, having one third of supplies for the trip out, a third for the trip back and the last third for emergencies or other surprises. Fuel should be a major component of supplies, as running out of gas is far too easy to do in the wilderness.
Equipment should also be tested to ensure it’s in good working order before going out. Life jackets should not have tears, communications equipment should be fully charged with extra batteries, and there should be no holes in the boat.
“You don’t want to get out on the water and then find you’re taking on water,” said Forbes. “Remember, if you are going out on the water it is super-important that you do a visual inspection of your boat to make sure there no holes, no rips, no tears or anything.
“If you find that your (life jacket) buckle isn’t working, or the zipper is not zipping up, how can you expect it to save your life? You can’t.”
IRC also recommends checking the weather forecast before going out to ensure conditions will be safe.
Of particular interest is the wind speed, as even a 20-knot gust can be a lot for a small boat to take. On open water such speeds could result in waves up to one metre in height, which could overwhelm a small boat.
Other factors to check for are fog conditions, which reduce visibility, and ice conditions. All the information can be found from the Environment Canada Marine Update website.
Another critical safety tip is having a “shore person” — someone at home who knows where you’re going, who exactly is with you, what type of boat you are using and when you plan to be back. This should also include a deadline when you are considered overdue and the person begins to contact the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.
Forbes noted this should be several hours after the intended return time, as sometimes simple mistakes happen.
“This will account for things taking longer than expected,” she said. “Maybe I stopped to help someone, maybe I just got distracted and I’m having a good time.”
Waves and wakes
Understanding how a boat moves through the water is an important safety consideration as well. In the third video, Forbes and Cockney-Goose explain how different boats create different wakes and how to properly pass other objects in the water.
Slowing down while passing other people or even cabins on the shoreline will minimize the wake they have to deal with. When moving into a large wave, IRC recommends turning the boat to a 35 to 45 degree angle from the wave to prevent the boat from rocking too much.
When passing another boat, much like on the road always stay to the right unless unsafe to do so. In these cases, you can pass on the left, but first honk twice to signal to the other boat your intention. Lastly, if about to intersect a vessel on its flank, instead turn and travel behind it, cutting through it wake.
“It is everybody’s responsibility to ensure that collisions don’t happen,” said Forbes. “Everybody needs to stay as safe as possible when out on the water.”
There are several free resources on Transport Canada’s website to help with improving knowledge of boat safety.
When in the water with a much larger boat, such as a barge or ferry, smaller boats should give the larger one lots of room to account with the larger wakes.
How to be seen
In the event of an emergency, seconds matter. And alerting others to your situation can make the difference between a story and a tragedy.
Forbes notes that yelling is always an option, but the human voice does not travel very far and having a whistle or air horn is a far more effective way to get other people’s attention. Visual signals, such as a mirror, flares or a flashlight can also help draw people to your location.
Flares can be complicated, she notes, because they have to be specially shipped to Inuvik and properly maintained. They also only are single-use, only last for a certain time frame and are very light-specific — smoke flares work best during the day and light flares work best at night, which is not very common in boating season up here. Forbes said having a reflective item, such as a mirror or even an old CD or DVD should cover most recreational boaters’ needs.
One last safety consideration to have is a re-boarding device, basically a rope ladder that can be attached to the boat. These can hang off the side of a boat and be very useful for getting back on board if you happen to be on the water alone and are knocked overboard. In the video, Forbes and Cockney-Goose show how to make your own re-boarding device in less than three minutes.
All four of the videos are available to watch for free on the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation’s Facebook page.
Watch the videos here: