Keeping your boat safe this summer

by Shelby Wye

We’ve all been told to be summer safe, but how about boat safe?

Canadian Power & Sailing (CPS) Squadron and Transport Canada’s Office of Boating Safety are working together to provide all of Canada’s recreational vessels with a courtesy check.

This movement started at the beginning of May, leading up to this Saturday when Safe Boating Week officially begins. Boaters can get their boat checked at any Quinte marina, after setting up an appointment with the group, which can be set up at this address.

These courtesy checks will look over the boat, and see if the required safety equipment is all on board. This includes anchors, waterproof flashlights, flares, fire extinguishers, paddles, up-to-date licenses, and life preservers.

This is safety equipment decreed required on deck by law. Boat owners without one or more of the safety equipment will be faced with fines.

Dale Holland, Quinte’s region volunteer coordinator of this program said, “The way law enforcement works on the water is that when you get an offence, they just keep adding up, and all fines start at 200 dollars. A free 20 minute check can save you a lot of money in the long run.”

Along with money, the safety equipment on board can save lives.

“I have people telling me all the time that they have a certain item, but they just don’t know where it is. Not very helpful if it comes to a real emergency,” said Holland.

Life preservers, flares and paddles top the list of most important equipment to have, no matter the size of the boat.

The check is completely free and also completely anonymous.

“There’s some people out there that think we’re the law’s watchdog, and we’ll fine them if they are missing equipment,” said Holland, “They’ve got it all wrong. We’re giving out these checks so they don’t have to deal with enforcement later down the road.”

The only thing recorded during these checks is which volunteer checked over the boat. The boat, and the status of their boat, remains entirely unknown to anyone but the boat owner and the volunteer.

Quinte only has around 10-15 regulars getting their boats checked, but on other docks around Canada, the numbers are tripling.

There are 200 volunteers helping with these courtesy checks across Canada.