28
May 2021
Florida boating safety tips: Protecting Manatees Manatees are protected under the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to help protect them from harm and harassment from boaters. These large mammals are found in salt, brackish and fresh water and because they are mammals, they need to come to the water’s surface every two to...
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18
Dec 2020
Categories: Safety
How far must boats stay away from swimmers in Florida? As a boat owner, safety should be your top priority every time you take your boat out on the water. That means safety for you, your passengers, other boats, and those enjoying the water in other ways. That includes swimmers, which are often the hardest...
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08
Dec 2020
Like any state, Florida requires boaters to have a certain amount of safety equipment on board their vessels to ensure the safety of passengers and other boaters. Of course, one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to boating safety equipment requirements, so Florida has segmented its requirements by boat size. There are four classes...
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08
Jul 2020
When and how to report a boating accident in Florida While following the rules of the waterways and boating responsibly significantly reduce the chance you’ll be in a boating accident, it’s always important to be prepared for the worst. When you know when and how to report a boating accident in Florida, you can remove...
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25
Jun 2020
Categories: Safety
How many boating accidents happen in Florida each year? There is some risk associated when you get behind the wheel of any motor vehicle. Boating accidents are far less common than automobile accidents, but the fact remains that every year drivers and passengers are injured or killed in boating accidents. The US Coast Guard captures...
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10
Apr 2020
Keep Your Boating Skills Sharp while Safer at Home The “safer-at-home” order in Florida and many other states has left a lot of us doing things we wouldn’t normally do this time of year, or ever, for that matter. With kids not in school and parents’ work lives interrupted, the routines we’ve all become accustomed...
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25
Feb 2020
Understanding life jacket and personal flotation device types Life jackets and personal flotation devices (PFDs) are essential to safe boating. The state of Florida has its own unique laws and requirements when it comes to the possession and use of personal flotation devices. In those requirements, there are mentions of Type I, II, III, IV,...
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21
Feb 2020
Do you have to wear a life jacket on a boat in Florida? It’s difficult to understate the importance of life jackets for boaters. According to a United States Coast Guard study in 2017, nearly 85 percent of drowning casualties were by individuals not wearing life jackets. While wearing life jackets is an essential practice...
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30
Jan 2020
How to use boat lights as signals for safe navigation at night There is something special and exciting about boating at night. It’s quiet, calm, and there is typically less traffic. Of course, boating at night also poses a big challenge that you don’t face during daylight: visibility. Boating at night not only makes it...
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25
Oct 2019
You’ve seen it in movies, TV shows, and among your fellow boaters. Drinking alcohol on boats is not an uncommon sight, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t strict laws surrounding who is drinking, how much they’ve had to drink, and how they are conducting themselves on the boat. We’ll cover the basics of Florida’s laws...
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