Boating - June 2016 USA

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The Falvey Five

WATERSPORTS SAFETY FOR SKIPPERS

far as I am concerned. Anyone at

the helm of a boat who passes

within 2 feet of a piling while

towing somebody is a fool. I just

hope that thirsty young man

wasn’t killed.

There are other safety tactics

that watersports skippers need

to abide by. Here are a few. I call

them the “Falvey Five.”

1

CLEARANCE Ideally, stay 500

feet from docks, pilings, buoys,

sandbars, mussel beds, oyster

reefs, aquaculture, moored boats,

moving boats or anything else. In

small lakes, stay at least 200 feet

from any danger.

2

PICK UP Pick up a downed

skier by approaching from

downwind and on the helm

side of the boat so the skipper

can see. An upwind approach risks

drifting over your skier. To see a

video of how to pick up a downed

rider produced in collaboration with

our partner brand, LearnWake, visit

boatingmag.com/watersports.

3

TOWING INFLATABLE

TUBES Never tow infl atable

tubes from a tower or top.

When a boarder or skier falls, the

stress on the line stops. If a tube

does a nosedive, the stress on the

hardware is unbelievably huge;

coupled with the leverage provided

by a tower’s height, it can cause you

to lose control of the boat.

4

ENGINE OFF The more

experienced we become, the

more tempting it can be to

leave the engine running in neutral

while picking up or deploying riders,

skiers or tubers. Don’t leave it run-

ning. Turn the engine off.

5

THROTTLE BACK It’s

hard not to grin just a

little wider when, with your

loudmouthed brother-in-law at the

end of the rope, you decide to ac-

celerate and “give him a good ride.”

Every year, hundreds of concussions

and broken limbs occur this way.

There’s more to watersports

safety. The Falvey Five addresses

just a few of the boat-handling

aspects. There are other safety

measures, such as making sure

everyone wears a life jacket, that

are the responsibility of those at

the helm to carry out.

Not funny. Nor is it supposed

to be. Boating Fail is intended as

an object lesson that portrays

what not to do. It always sparks

some great conversation and

comments among the members

of our social media community.

In many cases, Boating Fail

depicts scenarios in which at

least some mitigating factors

apply: weather, mechanical

problems, other boaters, etc.

In this case, the accident just

shouldn’t have happened.

Regardless of the rider’s reck-

lessness, the captain of that

boat should never have allowed

that situation to develop. In fact,

“captain,” a term of respect,

does not apply to him or her as

O

NE VIDEO THAT’S GARNERED LOADS OF LIKES AND SHARES RECENTLY

in our Boating Fail series on social media depicts a wakeboarder

horsing around and wiping out. Specifi cally, he is shown sliding up

close to the boat towing him in order to catch a canned beverage, and, just as

the can is tossed, the hapless youth slams into a piling.

ILLUSTRATION: TIM BOWER

Do not add bal-

last to your boat

— this includes

the weight of

your crew — in

excess of that

specifi ed on the

capacity plate.

You Booze, You Lose

The marine environment’s motion, vibration, engine noise, sun, wind and spray accelerate a

drinker’s impairment. These stressors cause fatigue that makes a boat operator’s coordination,

judgment and reaction time decline even faster when using alcohol. Alcohol can also be more

dangerous to boaters because recreational boaters don’t have the benefit of experiencing daily

boat operation. In fact, boaters average only 110 hours on the water per year. — K.F.

32 BOATINGMAG.COM JUNE 2016