THE OUTDOORS : SAFE BOATING : A Relaxing Fishing Trip May Be an Accident Waiting to Happen

What is more serene than a small outboard motorboat with two fishermen plying inland waters on a clear, calm summer afternoon?

No ocean waves, no noise, no worries. Kick back, pop a can of beer, use the life jacket as a seat cushion--and wait for an accident to happen. The fishermen in that situation may very well be on a collision course with disaster, in the form of a similar boat.

Statistics compiled by the U.S. Coast Guard show that combination of circumstances to be most prevalent in accidents afloat, partly because most people use that type of boat on the peak days of the boating season--more boats, more accidents--but also because of human nature. Who can get hurt going fishing?

“Most hunters and fishermen do not consider themselves boaters,” the Coast Guard says in its pamphlet on Federal Requirements for Recreational Boats. “To them, the boat is just another piece of equipment.”

Of the 40 million fishermen in the United States., about 80% fish from a boat, according to the National Marine Manufacturers’ Assn. Of the 1,036 U.S. boating fatalities in 1987, 268 died while fishing, second only by groups to the 366 who perished while simply “cruising.”

Although the Coast Guard believes that fishermen give less attention to their boats and safety than they do their bait and tackle, they certainly aren’t the only careless boaters.

Consider that of the 54 people killed in boating accidents in California last year, only 10--18.5%--were wearing Coast Guard-approved personal flotation devices (PFDs, or life jackets). In ‘87, the last year for which the Coast Guard’s national figures are available, only 106 of the 1,036 victims wore proper PFDs.

There is no law requiring a person to wear a PFD, only one saying that there must be one PFD for each person on board.

But Coast Guard figures also indicate that about half of all boating accidents involve collisions with other vessels, not on stormy seas, where even foolish people might wear their PFDs, but on calm, inland waterways within shouting distance of shore, where many boaters wouldn’t think of wearing them.

“People feel safer on smooth water, close to shore,” said Timothy Young of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

In many cases, it’s a fatal error.

PFDs weren’t the main issue late one night in 1984, when nine people aboard a speeding, overloaded 20-foot jet boat struck an unlighted Navy buoy in Anaheim Bay, killing five--the state’s worst boating accident in recent years.

There were no PFDs on board and a test showed that the driver’s blood alcohol content to be above the 0.10 level considered legally impaired for an automobile driver.

The incident helped to achieve a federal law passed in January of 1988 that requires specific information on the role of alcohol or drugs in boating casualties, with possible fines up to $6,000 and a year in prison if convicted with a level above 0.10.

Other surveys have shown that 85% of boating accidents involve alcohol and 51% of those who died were over 0.10. A survey in Nevada showed 90% of the boats to have alcoholic beverages on board.

There are no laws requiring anyone to be licensed to operate a private recreational boat, although 12 states--but not California--require some kind of certification for juvenile operators. Maryland, since last summer, has required certification that an operator born after July 1, 1972 must have taken a boating education course, and Maine and New Jersey are considering similar measures.

Many people close to boating doubt that licensing would help.

“Licenses are required to drive an automobile on the road, but people still run into each other,” said Ben Benites, a spokesman for the California Department of Boating and Waterways in Sacramento.

“If they ever decide on one, they should make it of Styrofoam 18 inches wide and about six inches thick and make everybody wear it. What I’m saying is, people don’t wear life jackets, but it might save their lives if they had to wear that.”

The NMMF says a record 749,020 boats were sold in the United States last year and that California had 6,473,000 recreational boating participants in ‘88, far ahead of runner-up Texas with 4,448,000.

And yet the Coast Guard figures also show that although there now are about three times as many recreational boats--17 million--as there were in 1961, when it started keeping statistics, fatalities in that time span have declined from 20.8 per 100,000 boats to an all-time low of 6.1 for 1987, the most recent year documented.

How can that be, when people still don’t have to wear PFDs or be licensed to run a boat?

Al Marmo, assistant chief of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, boating and consumer affairs division in Washington, said: “I think that could be attributed to the Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971, which mandated a cooperative national boating safety program, coordinated by the Coast Guard. (It involves) the states, the Coast Guard, boating organizations and the boating industry, because we put our regulations that require certain construction standards on boats.

“You combine all those factors, plus mandatory carriage requirements for PFDs and prompting manufacturers to develop more wearable PFDs, and that’s why the fatalities have gone down.”

The 1971 legislation apparently did make a dramatic difference. Until then, the fatality rate per 100,000 boats was constant at about 20 but dipped to 16.9 in 1972, plunged to 9.9 in 1976 and has been dropping ever since.

What magic was this?

Education.

Timothy Young, a project coordinator for an Anaheim air-conditioning firm, was at the Newport Dunes launching ramp in Newport Beach last weekend wearing his other hat--that of a Coast Guard Auxiliary staff officer and vessel examiner.

“Good morning,” he said, politely greeting a family whose boat was backed down the ramp. “Would you like to have a courtesy examination?”

The Coast Guard Auxiliary, created in 1939 to promote pleasure craft safety standards, is 50 years old this year. It was sidetracked during During World War II when members performed submarine patrol off the East Coast and served as “MacArthur’s Navy,” ferrying supplies in the South Pacific, but it has since become a force in safe boating, along with state and local agencies and boat dealers.

The auxiliary assists boaters in distress--23,342 in 1987, including 471 who might have otherwise perished--runs boating classes year round, distributes millions of pamphlets, and since 1947 many of its 39,000 members have been conducting courtesy marine examinations at marinas and launching ramps all over the country, checking for items such as PFDs, fire extinguishers, lights and other safety items.

The exam is voluntary and free, but the role of the examiner is often misunderstood. The auxiliary is only a civilian affiliate of the Coast Guard, composed entirely of unpaid volunteers using their own boats and airplanes, with no enforcement powers.

“I had one person who thought I was looking for a bribe,” Young said. “He whipped out a $10 bill. One boat wouldn’t let me examine them. It was an aluminum fishing boat with rivets coming out, littered with beer cans, no fire extinguisher.”

If a boat sails through the 15-point checklist, it receives a large decal to wear for the year. Young estimated that only about 40% pass the test the first time.

“A lot of boats we know won’t pass,” Young said. “But we do it for the education benefits.”

The most common shortcoming?

“Flares,” Young said. “No (distress signal) flares. Either they don’t have them or they’ve expired.”

Marine distress flares must be dated by the manufacturer and are good for 42 months. Sometimes, Young said, he has found them floating in the bilge.

Although the auxiliary’s examiners have no enforcement powers, Young pointed out: “Inspection is mandatory anytime the Coast Guard or Harbor Patrol wants to do it. The things we point out are fineable violations.”

Young may seem like a nit-picker to some.

“You have a mount for this?” he asked a boater, holding up an extinguisher.

“I did.”

“You need a mount for a sticker.”

“Why would that make a boat safer?”

“Because you know where it is and it doesn’t roll around in high seas.”

The boater rooted around in the boat and found the mount. He passed.

Young checked another boater whose mother was confident the boat will pass.

“He’s been around boats all his life,” she said.

But the stern light didn’t work and the flares were expired. No sticker.

“And he was very knowledgeable about boats,” Young said.

The Coast Guard issues recall orders to boat manufacturers for safety defects, but some responsible dealers also are stressing sanity over sales these days.

Jeff Napier, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Assn., advises people to make sure what they’re buying is really what they want in a boat.

“Are you going to use it for cruising, or to be a fisherman?” Napier said. “A lot of people buy a boat because it looks kind of neat, but it doesn’t fit their needs.”

Bob Swan of Newport Beach has three boat dealerships that sold nearly 1,500 boats worth $22 million last year. He also is president of the Southern California Marine Assn. that had its largest show at the L.A. Convention Center this month.

“We have diverted people and lost the sale because they ultimately ended up confused,” Swan said. “Conscientious salesmen try to guide people: ‘I really think you want this boat, but we feel this other boat is the best for you.’ ”

Swan provides safety pamphlets and a videotape with every boat he sells.

“The husband might say, ‘I don’t need that, I know how to run a boat.’ But the wife will say, ‘Hey, our kids are going to be on that boat,’ ” Swan said. “Our salesmen tell customers, ‘You cannot go through that tape without learning something.’ ”

Swan doubted the value of licensing operators as “more of a nuisance factor . . . (creating an) enormous bureaucracy that would be a detriment to the industry.”

He also disputed the Coast Guard’s view of fishermen as boaters.

“In my personal opinion, fishermen are probably the safest boaters in the world,” he said.

THE COAST GUARD AUXILIARY BOAT CHECK

Registration numbers on both sides of bow.

Registration certificate on board.

Proper navigation lights, working.

Sound device audible for four seconds at 1/2-mile.

Coast Guard-approved personal flotation devices (life jackets) for each person on board, plus one throwable if boat is longer than 16 feet.

Coast Guard-approved fire extinguisher, indicating full charge.

Coast Guard-approved visual distress signals (flares, unexpired 42 months).

Proper engine ventilation.

Backfire flame arrester.

Fuel system in good condition.

Adequate anchor and line for area.

Alternate propulsion for boats less than 16 feet (e.g., oars).

Bailing device (besides any electrical device).

General seaworthiness; wiring and galley satisfactorily shipshape.

Other state requirements (flashlights, etc.).