The Recreational Boating Safety State Grant Program—Part 1

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. Gary Jensen and Ms. Lynne McMahan, U.S. Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety

The Recreational Boating Safety State Grant Program was established in 1973, on the heels of the Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971, to supplement Coast Guard efforts. Although the Coast Guard is statutorily responsible for maritime safety, we are not staffed or funded to maintain an effective recreational boating safety program by ourselves.

User Pays/User Benefits
Funding for the program currently comes from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, which gets its revenue, in part, from federal excise taxes on motorboat fuel, taxes on sport fishing equipment, and import duties on fishing tackle, yachts, and pleasure boats.

No general tax revenues are used—the funds come from the people who benefit from the services.

To be eligible for funds, a recreational boating safety program must have:

• a vessel numbering system,
• a cooperative boating safety assistance program with the Coast Guard,
• sufficient patrol and other activity to ensure adequate enforcement of applicable state boating safety laws and regulations,
• a sufficient state boating safety education program that includes disseminating information concerning the hazards of operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs,
• a marine casualty reporting system.

How Does This Work?
Of the funds appropriated for the state grant program, the Coast Guard is authorized to retain not more than two percent for the costs of administering it, and up to five percent for grants to national non-profit public service organizations to conduct national boating safety activities.

The balance is allocated as follows:

• One-third is allocated equally among participating states.
• One-third is allocated in the same ratio as the number of vessels numbered in the state bears to the number of vessels numbered in all participating states.
• One-third is allocated in the same ratio as the amount of the state’s prior-year expenditures for boating safety bears to the total prior-year expenditures for boating safety of all participating states.

A state cannot receive more than one-half of the total cost of its program, and funds may only be used for certain purposes.

Examples include:

• Providing facilities, equipment, and supplies for boating safety education and law enforcement.
• Training personnel in skills related to boating safety and enforcement of boating safety laws.
• Providing public boating safety education.
• Acquiring, constructing, or repairing public access sites used primarily by recreational boaters.
• Conducting boating safety inspections and marine casualty investigations.
• Establishing and maintaining emergency or search and rescue facilities, and providing emergency or search and rescue assistance.
• Establishing and maintaining waterway markers and other appropriate aids to navigation.
• Providing state recreational vessel numbering and titling programs.

In part 2 we will discuss program areas and results.

For more information:
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

Subscribe online at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/subscribe.asp.

The National Recreational Boating Survey

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Dr. Philippe Gwet, Mathematical Statistician, U.S. Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety and Dr. Glenn Haas Professor, Colorado State University, Vice President

National Association of Recreation Resource Planners

The National Recreational Boating Survey has undergone a major redesign to collect extensive information about the U.S. boating population, recreational vessels, and boating activities. Survey data will support strategies to reduce accidents and casualties and will be used to plan for future demand and participation.

The redesigned survey includes questions to help determine what motivates boaters to boat safely, what boating safety campaigns influence them and by what delivery system, and why individuals completed a boating safety instruction course.

The Coast Guard will implement the next two surveys in 2011 and 2013 to measure:

• exposure


• boat and boater hours on the water


• boat hours in docked recreation


• boating participation and boat ownership


• total annual participation overall


• total annual participation by boat type


• total boat ownership


• boating safety awareness and behaviors


• life jacket use


• reasons for life jacket use


• alcohol use and boat operation


• economic impact of recreational boating


• money spent on boats


• money spent in communities on boat trips


• negative event incidence and risk


• actual and reported accidents that cause injury and boat damage


• boat statistics


• features of boats such as hull material and propulsion systems

Three Survey Types
This data will be collected through three survey instruments—the boat survey, trip survey, and participant survey.

The boat survey collects information about the number and type of boats as well as information about how much money boat owners spend on their boats.

The trip survey will proceed monthly during the survey year. The sample will be boats that have responded to the boat survey and will sample individual trips and collect information about what happened on those trips: how long they lasted, what safety events occurred, and what money was spent.

The participant survey collects information about who spent time boating during the year.

For more information:
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

Subscribe online at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/subscribe.asp.

History of Boating Surveys

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine

1960s
The Coast Guard began an informal survey process in the late ‘60s as an aid in allocating its boating safety resources. This initiative used a compilation of statistical data from various sources, including a statistical telephone survey of households in the Coast Guard’s Fifth District and an observational study of boating activities in the Chesapeake Bay.

This study revealed that 20 percent of the estimated 539,077 boat operators in the USCG Fifth District completed at least one formal boating safety course, and totaled about 76,473,600 exposure hours.

1970s
The second USCG-sponsored boating survey in 1974 collected data for the 1973 boating season. This was a national statistical survey designed with state-of-the-art methods, though based on a very small sample size—just 24,137 households.

While the household sample was too small to produce state-level boating statistics or national statistics by boat type, this survey introduced the concepts of “boat hours,” “passenger hours,” and “ratio of passenger hours per boat hour.” The statistics: boat hours were estimated at 1,549,137,000 hours; passenger hours 4,604,336,000.

The USCG conducted another national recreational boating survey in 1977 to collect 1976 boating season data. Although again small in scale (only 5,507 households), this was a well-designed statistical survey that produced broad national-level statistics on boat owners, operators, and boating activities among boating households.

Both the 1973 and 1976 surveys were weighted to yield continental U.S. estimates. For example, the 1976 survey estimated 11,322,000 recreational boats in the country with 2,255,624,000 boat hours and 7,635,246,000 passenger hours.

1980s-2002
In 1989, the USCG issued a grant to the American Red Cross to conduct a national recreational boating survey covering the period from October 1, 1988 through September 30, 1989. This survey was based on a sample of 3,700 recreational boating participants and estimated 4,922,143,730 passenger hours per year on owned, rented, or borrowed boats during 1989 (106.78 hours per boater).

The next USCG-sponsored survey produced only national-level boating statistics. The survey came in 1998 when a Coast Guard contractor conducted another national recreational boating survey based on a sample of 9,746 recreational boating participants.

In 2002 the USCG conducted a national recreational boating survey with the goal of producing state-level statistics. This survey was based on a substantial sample of 25,000 boat operators. However, its focus on only boat operators made the use of these statistics limited.

Stay tuned to learn about the redesigned USCG survey.

For more information:
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

Subscribe online at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/subscribe.asp.

E-NAVIGATION UNDERWAY 2012: An International Conference on e-Navigation

Information provided by and shared at the request of Mr. William Cairns, Principal Navigation Engineer, USCG Office of Navigation Systems, and member of the steering committee for this event.


After a successful 2011 conference with more than 130 participants from 21 countries, IALA and EfficienSea, with the support of the Nautical Institute and CIRM, have deci­ded to repeat the event.

This year the conference will have a broader perspective, including discussions of the overall e-Navigation process as well as demonstrations of practical e-Navigation tests. Furthermore, the industry will put their state-of-the-art navi­gation solutions up for display.

The aim will be to address the following issues:

What are the implications of the e-Navigation strategy implementation plan?

Who are the e-Navigation stakeholders, and what are their roles?

Harmonization of test bed methodology has previously been identified as a need. Has anything transpired?

An update on existing and new e-Navigation test beds will be given.

We hope and believe that the 2012 conference will attract as many and as qualified attendees as in 2011, so the high standard from the first conference can be maintained.


Further information is available at http://www.e-navigation.net/.

Download the conference pamphlet at http://www.efficiensea.org/files/e_navigation_underway_2012_.pdf.

Recreational Boating Accident Statistics and Trends

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Ms. Susan Tomczuk, U.S. Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety and Dr. L. Daniel Maxim, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary

Fatality rates for recreational boating accidents have historically been expressed as fatalities per 100,000 registered boats. In 2008, the total number of recreational boating fatalities in the United States was 709, a fatality rate of 5.6 deaths per 100,000 registered boats. This fatality rate has declined over the years—more than 83 percent since these statistics were first analyzed.

This is gratifying, but from 1990 on, the average annual decrease in fatality rate was only 2.5 percent per year (denoted by the dashed red line in the chart), and annual fatalities appear to be “stuck” at around 700.

Most Boating Fatalities Are Drownings
Drowning accounts for the majority of fatalities, particularly on smaller boats. Personal watercraft accidents are more likely to result in blunt trauma injuries (mostly due to speed). PWCs have fewer drownings since most states require operators and passengers to wear life jackets.

Life Jackets Save Lives
Most boating drownings are sudden, unexpected events, typically resulting from capsizing or falls overboard, which provide little time to don a life jacket.

Life jacket wear rates are high for some boaters (typically skiers, personal watercraft occupants, and children), largely because they are legally required. But according to Coast Guard-sponsored life jacket wear rate observation studies, life jacket wear rates are not high for other boaters.

Alcohol Kills
One particularly telling boating accident report data field is the “primary contributing factor” for each reported accident. Each is plotted in the chart as a point showing the number of fatalities and number of accidents. For alcohol/drugs those numbers are 126 and 281.

Only factors resulting in at least 200 accidents or 25 fatalities are shown, the dashed lines show contours of constant ratios of fatalities per accident. The next figure illustrates contributing factors for casualties.

Alcohol/drugs remain important, but other factors increase in relative importance, such as inattention, proper lookout, speed, careless or reckless behavior, and passenger/skier behavior.

For more information:
Full article is available http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

Online annual statistics reports are available at
http://www.uscgboating.org/statistics/accident_statistics.aspx.

Subscribe online at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/subscribe.asp.

Strategic Planning: Plotting a course for change.

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. James P. Muldoon, Chairman, National Boating Safety Advisory Council. Mr. Fred F. Messmann, Deputy Director, National Safe Boating Council

Recreational boating is a fun and generally safe activity, but every year hundreds die in accidents and thousands more are injured. Considering that approximately 77 million Americans participate in recreational boating, these numbers are statistically low. However, these deaths and injuries are preventable.

The most frequent causes of recreational boating accidents are:

• Drowning. Causes: lack of boating safety knowledge, lack of life jackets, life jackets not worn, inability to swim, operating in heavy weather, alcohol or drug abuse.
• Falls Overboard. Causes: overloading, lack of safety knowledge, operator inattention, boat design, weather, alcohol or drug abuse.
• Collision with Vessel/Collision with Fixed Object (allision). Causes: lack of boating safety knowledge, operator inattention, no proper lookout, disregard of navigation rules.

The National Boating Safety Advisory Council strategic planning panel drafted a list of strategies to increase awareness of boating safety by promoting a message similar to the “Smokey the Bear” forest fire prevention campaign.

Wear It
The focus: Increasing life jacket wear rates, interventions for boating under the influence, ensuring manufacturer compliance with federal regulations, and increasing frequency and accuracy in reporting of boating accidents.

National Recreational Boating Survey
Additionally, the USCG Boating Safety Division is working with boating safety experts to develop the National Recreational Boating Survey, which will provide scientific information about boaters’ behavior to compare to fatality and injury data to identify the greatest risks. The survey will be administered every two years.

The strategic plan will be reviewed every five years to:

• Determine progress.
• Analyze measurements.
• Consider new strategies.

We invite you to study our plan, process, and progress at www.uscgboating.org. We are currently finalizing the next iteration of the plan for the years 2012-2017 and we invite you and your organization to help us implement it to save lives.

Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

Subscribe online at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/subscribe.asp.

A Century of Recreational Boating Safety—Part 2

Over the years many boating safety organizations have worked with the Coast Guard to collectively make boating safer and more enjoyable. These invaluable partners include:

The National Water Safety Congress
The American Boat and Yacht Council
The National Safe Boating Council
The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators
The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary
The U.S. Power Squadrons
BoatU.S.
U.S. Sailing
The National Boating Federation
The American Canoe Association
The Boy Scouts of America (Sea Scouts)
The American Red Cross
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The National Marine Manufacturers Association
The National Boating Safety Advisory Council
The Water Sports Industry Association
The Personal Watercraft Industry Association
The Personal Flotation Device Manufacturers Association
United Safe Boating Institute

For more information:
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010

Subscribe online at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/subscribe.asp.

A Century of Recreational Boating Safety—Part 1

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by CAPT Mark D. Rizzo, Chief, U.S. Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety and Mr. Jeff Hoedt, Chief, Boating Safety Division U.S. Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety.

More than one hundred years ago, Congress enacted the Motorboat Act of 1910, establishing the first federal laws governing recreational boats. In 1971, when the number of registered boats reached 5.5 million and the number of recreational boating deaths reached 1,582 in a single year, Congress enacted the Federal Boat Safety Act, the most comprehensive legislation ever enacted to enhance boating safety.

In addition to formally establishing the National Recreational Boating Safety Program, a key component of this act gave the Coast Guard the authority to establish mandatory boat manufacturing and other standards, which have reduced boating accidents, property damage, injuries, and deaths.

By the year 2000, there were

nearly 12.8 million registered boats in the U.S., and the annual number of deaths dropped to approximately 700, bringing the ratio of deaths compared to the number of registered boats to a record low.

Are We There Yet?

For the Coast Guard and its many partners, though, even one death is unacceptable. In the spring of 2007, 20 organizations signed the Strategic Plan of the National Recreational Boating Safety Program, whose strategies include:

• improving accident reporting through regulatory and policy amendments,


• enhancing training for investigators,


• creating better measures to determine the effectiveness of the strategies,


• focusing on measures that will increase life jacket wear (given that most boating deaths are drownings),


• enhancing the education and skill levels of boat operators.

For more information:
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.
Subscribe online at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/subscribe.asp.

Champion’s Point of View

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by RADM Kevin S. Cook , U.S. Coast Guard Director of Prevention Policy

Since the enactment of the Federal Boat Safety Act in 1971, the number of registered boats has soared to nearly 13 million. And with the relative explosion of unregistered “paddle craft” (kayaks, canoes, etc.), the true number of recreational boats cannot be known for sure.

But what is known—and what the Coast Guard and its partners are so proud of—is that since the 1971 act, the number of fatalities has plummeted from a record high of 1,754 deaths in 1973 to 736 deaths in 2009.

Even so, we collectively in government, industry, non-profits, and advocacy groups must do better. And together we can!

I hope these blog posts will enlighten you as to the diverse partners involved in the National Recreational Boating Safety Program and challenge you to think about what we can all do to make boating safer.

For more information:
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

Subscribe online at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/subscribe.asp.

Introduction to Recreational Boating Safety—Assistant Commandant’s Perspective

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by RADM Paul Zukunft, U.S. Coast Guard Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship

The Coast Guard has a long history of working with the recreational boating community, and the results of our collective safety efforts have been impressive. In the last 40 years the number of boating participants has grown exponentially, yet the number of boating incidents and deaths continue to decrease.

This success is attributable to the cooperative partnerships that have been forged among federal, state, and local governments; the boating industry; boating safety organizations; and recreational boaters.

Yet there is more that needs to be done. While we’ve brought the number of deaths down significantly, there are still more than 700 recreational boating fatalities each year. We can—and will—do better.

If you are an active partner in the National Recreational Boating Safety Program, I sincerely thank you for your commitment. Please continue to work with us to improve this program. If you are not an active partner, please consider coming aboard. Together we are making a difference that has a positive impact on tens of millions of Americans every year.

For more information:
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

Subscribe online at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/subscribe.asp.

Top 10 Towing Vessel Material Failures—Part III

Excerpted from “Top Ten Deficiencies Found on Vessels.” Full text available on http://homeport.uscg.mil/. Navigate to missions/investigations/safety reports.

See Part I here and Part II here.


Generator
Most of the failures that cause a towing vessel’s diesel generator to stall or trip off the line are related to the diesel end of the generator set. The most common failure items are voltage regulators and wires.

Control Air Valve
Mechanical linkage has been known to come loose, most commonly between the pilothouse control and the air supply.

Propeller and Shaft
Eliminating the occasions where a propeller was fouled by a floating object or a line, there are numerous instances of actual propeller loss. When a blade was lost, we see that overspeed and/or shutdown often follows, but not always.

When the entire propeller is lost, shutdown of its drive engine always follows promptly. Assuming a twin-screw vessel, the immediate consequence is reduced maneuverability until the speed drops to a point where single-engine maneuverability can be achieved.

A broken propeller shaft (especially a break in the tail-shaft section) has the same effect as a lost propeller, but with the added possibility of the shaft sliding aft, such that the propeller jams the rudder.

Hull Plating
Sometimes when cracked or defective hull plating is found, the origin of the defect cannot be determined. Given the age of some of the vessels, it can be assumed that the defect occurred naturally, without a collision, allision, or grounding.

Owner/operator recommendation: Inspect the underwater hull and bottom plating when the rudders, propellers, and shafts are inspected.

Top 10 Towing Vessel Material Failures—Part II

Excerpted from “Top Ten Deficiencies Found on Vessels.” Full text available on http://homeport.uscg.mil/. Navigate to missions/investigations/safety reports.

See Part I here.

Propulsion Diesel
The U.S. Coast Guard Office of Investigations and Analysis compared larger propulsion diesels with smaller engines and concluded they’re at parity for failures related to cylinders and cylinder heads. Common failures include cracks and leaking gaskets.

Governor

• The three most common causes of governor malfunction:
  inadequate lubrication,
• improper adjustment of control linkage,loss of pneumatic pressure (control air) to the governor.

Reduction Gear/Clutch
With inflatable flexible gland clutches, either the elastomer gland or the wear elements in contact with it (typically friction shoes) are known to reach the wear-out point unexpectedly. Depending on what wore out and how, this component has been the cause of “failure to disengage” as well as the obvious failure to engage.

Many clutch-related loss of propulsion and/or maneuverability failures have also been due to loss of control air to the clutch.

The list concludes in part 3.