Corps stresses safe boating practices over holiday period

The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn PADDLING ABOUT: Kayakers paddle around the banks of Lake Ouachita at Lake Ouachita State Park on Tuesday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is urging power boat operators to be on the lookout for paddle sport enthusiasts over the holiday period.
The Sentinel-Record/Mara Kuhn PADDLING ABOUT: Kayakers paddle around the banks of Lake Ouachita at Lake Ouachita State Park on Tuesday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is urging power boat operators to be on the lookout for paddle sport enthusiasts over the holiday period.

The growing popularity of paddle sports has the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stressing the need to stay alert on the water over the upcoming July Fourth holiday period.

"Just a few moments of kind of taking your mind off what you are doing can really be deadly when you involve water," said Brian C. Westfall, natural resources specialist with the Corps of Engineers' Ouachita Project Management Office. Westfall is also the immediate past president of the National Water Safety Congress.

Westfall noted that the U.S. Coast Guard, one of the Corps' partners in water and boating safety, just issued a marine safety alert reminding power boat operators that they are sharing the water with a "wide variety of different human-propelled vessels," ranging from stand up paddle boards to kayaks, which are continuing to grow in popularity each year.

"They don't have a big silhouette on the water ... and at certain times of the day when you've got the glare, and you've got the folks that are under boating fatigue ... it could be real easy not to see them," Westfall said.

Westfall said boating fatigue starts to set in after being on the water all day, affecting boaters' color vision and causing something akin to "tunnel vision," especially as the sun begins to set.

"We encourage everybody from the power boat side to be sure and have a good lookout when you're driving down the lake, and reduce your speed around recreation areas and structures," he said.

Smaller vessels like fishing boats, paddle boards and kayaks are easily overlooked on the water, he said.

The Corps of Engineers is also asking paddle sport enthusiasts to do their part to improve safety as the waterways get busier this holiday by wearing life jackets and increasing their visibility on the water by wearing bright, contrasting colors that stand out against blue skies and blue water.

"Something that will give them a bigger visual footprint will really help," Westfall said.

Paddle sport enthusiasts should also avoid paddling into heavily trafficked areas like marinas, boat ramps and main channels, he said.

Enjoying some of the lesser-used parts of the lake, such as the coves, and staying fairly close to the shoreline should help reduce the probability of being run over by a power vessel, he said.

While there are no specific requirements for paddle sport enthusiasts from the Corps of Engineers, Westfall noted that the American Canoe Association has free online courses at http://www.boaterexam.com for anyone who might be new to the sport.

Westfall said the Corps of Engineers also recommends paddle sport enthusiasts take a boating safety course to ensure everyone on the water is more "water wise."

While it doesn't have specific requirements for their use on Lake Ouachita, the Corps of Engineers does recommend that paddle sport enthusiasts know their limits on the water, know the area where they are going to be operating, and that they file a float plan.

Float plans are recommended for power boat users, as well. Westfall said a float plan, which simply lets a responsible adult know "where you're going, when you're going, who all is going, and when you expect to return" is a "very important part of boating."

"That way, if you don't return from your recreational outing, there will be a set of information that a search and rescue person can look at to begin the search, and to carry it out quickly and hopefully being able to find the person, whether they might have a downed motor or a problem with a sail boat ... where we can get our folks out there and start looking as soon as possible," he said.

For power-driven vessels, the Corps of Engineers is emphasizing the importance of a "kill switch," to turn off the motor of a vessel when its operator is thrown into the water, this summer.

"That kill switch is extremely important if you are thrown away from the console, the steering wheel and the throttle. With a kill switch, if you are thrown free, that switch attaches to the ignition of the boat, and also to the operator, preferably it's attached to their life jacket. So, if they are thrown free of that vessel's controls, that motor will completely stop, immediately."

That prevents what Westfall referred to as the "circle of death," in the event an operator is thrown from their boat.

In the "circle of death," a boat can circle its operator, making a shorter path each time. "That can be a very deadly consequence of not having a kill switch," he said.

Alcohol continues to be one of the leading causes of boating accidents and fatalities in the United States, according to Westfall. The Corps of Engineers started trying to combat alcohol-related tragedies on the water in 2009 with Operation Dry Water, a year-round boating under the influence awareness and enforcement campaign, which selects a weekend each year when there is heavy boating activity.

This year's campaign begins Friday and continues through Sunday.

Enforcement officers throughout the nation will be on the lakes and rivers focusing on spreading the awareness of the dangers of boating under the influence, and looking for impaired operators.

Since the stepped-up enforcement operation began in 2009, there has been a 24-percent reduction in boating fatalities where alcohol was listed as a contributing factor in the United States, according to Westfall.

Local on 06/28/2017

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