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Small Boat Safety Offshore (Part 1)
No surprize - running a small boat offshore can be hazardous. But three
things - advancements in electronics, more reliable outboard motors, and the
advent of of marine towing services - have made the risks more acceptable. Add
in a heavy dose of caution, common sense, and time on the water, and
you're about as well prepared as you can hope to be...
Safety Defined |
Getting Out & Back |
Staying Afloat |
Man Overboard! |
What's Next?
For purposes of discussion in OSJ, we will define safety as:
"The
ability to embark on a trip and return to port with the vessel afloat and crew
unhurt"
This includes both boating and fishing issues. In the next sections,
we will discuss a number of topics that are of special interest ot skiff
fishermen.
As always, please note that this is NOT a
general or basic discourse on marine safety or seamanship. There are a number
of sources for this kind of information, including the US Power Squadron, the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, and of
course, reams of .
Our assumption in these articles is that you are already familiar with basic
rules of the road, basic coastal seamanship, and how to operate your skiff. The
safety topics covered here are specifically targeted
to issues surrounding ocean skiffs.
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