May 18 to 24, 2024 is National Safe Boating Week. That is fitting as we head into Memorial Day weekend - the unofficial start to summer.
Many are looking forward to hitting the waterways, especially with warmer temperatures this week giving a tease of summer.
However, water temperatures in mid-to-late-May for Long Island Sound are still only in the 50s.
Peg Phillips, the executive director of the National Safe Boating Council, notes that cold water immersion is "a big risk" in northern states, particularly when temperatures start feeling more summerlike.
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She suggests that boaters dress for the water temperature versus the air temperature.
"Just go ahead and dress for immersion, because if you're wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and you have a capsize of some sort, and all of a sudden you're in that cold water. It can be very shocking to you," she said.
Phillips also emphasizes all passengers wear a life jacket, comparing it to putting on a seatbelt in a car.
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Other suggestions and recommendations include: inspect boating equipment/gear ahead of time, let another person know your boating plans, constantly check the weather forecast and heed weather and marine warnings when they are issued.
Federal law, adds Phillips, requires power boaters to use an engine cut-off switch.
"That's that red lanyard, it's attached to your ignition switch, you want to make sure that is attached to either your life jacket or your wrist, something like that. And the purpose for that is if the boat operator is for any reason displaced from the helm, that cord will come off of the ignition switch and the engine will stop. And that keeps the boat stopped so that you have an opportunity to reboard your vessel," Phillips said.
