Coast Guard works to educate the public about boater safety during National Boater Safety Week

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - The weather’s beginning to warm up, and people are headed out on the water.

But before you leave the dock for a day in the sun, you should brush up on your boater safety skills.

They say they actively engage with boaters to ensure they have essential life-saving equipment.

“First time everybody gets their boat out on the water; they don’t check their boats, they really don’t have an idea what’s going on,” Coast Guard Executive Petty Officer Thomas Simonds said. “They just want to get out on the water. A lot of people know that the Coast Guard does search and rescue. Some people know we do law enforcement. But what a lot of people don’t know is a big part of what we do is education.”

Because, when the unexpected occurs, people risk accidents that could have been prevented.

Items like life jackets, flares, and fire extinguishers are required to be offshore.

And if you don’t have the required items readily available, boaters’ risk being terminated and taken back to the dock, where they will be in violation.

Simonds said people should ‘know before they go’ out on the water.

Throughout the week, the Coast Guard will be speaking about the importance of being safe and equipped, so the public can be able to enjoy being offshore the right way.

National Boater Safety Week began after Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into effect on June 4, 1958.

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