Recreational Boating Safety

Recreational Boating Safety Goals

The goal of the Recreational Boating Safety Committee is to enhance the boating experience by providing the boater with the latest safety tools and information. The Recreational Boating Safety Committee works with the National Safe Boating Council to coordinate USPS safe boating promotional efforts through the National Safe Boating Campaign. The kick-off week for the 2009 campaign is 16-22 May 2009. All Squadrons have been encouraged to plan a safety event. Every Squadron Safety Officer is encouraged to submit a report for their squadron to their District Safety Officer before 1 October. The report form can be downloaded from this web site. Our goal is for all squadrons earn Safety Honor Roll status each year.

 Marine Observing Network (MAROB)

Having accurate weather information is important for the safety of your vessel and the comfort of the crew.  Through the MAROB program, USPS has partnered with the National Weather Service to improve NWS data and thereby improve their computer models and forecasts. Currently there are six test districts (3, 8, 9, 16, 22 & 26) involved in the initial program. Let’s all support this worthwhile initiative.

  Boat Responsibly  

  Notice Anything Missing from Waypoints?

By: John Malatak, Chief, Program Operations Branch

Certainly the philosophy of the U.S. Coast Guard's Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety has not changed. Boaters – no matter what type or size of boat they operate, or what sports they pursue on the water – should recognize that they are "in command" and therefore fully responsible for boating safely.

But our goal is also to continue to be the best partner we can be. Recently more and more boating safety advocates including the Coast Guard have united behind "Wear It!" – a simple but powerful reminder to wear life jackets while boating. Although other safety topics remain important – education, BUI, accident reporting, and more – it's been remarkable to see what happens when we all speak with "one voice" in a coordinated "Wear It!" campaign. Meanwhile, we've found that the tagline we've been using since 2002, (You’re In Command), has never resonated as well as we hoped with either boaters or our boating safety partners.

For the reasons stated above, the Coast Guard has decided to shift away from solely using "You're in Command. Boat Responsibly! " as our slogan. We will not replace it with any other slogan; instead, to identify products of the Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety we will use our existing graphic device of the red boat plying the waves and simply retain the words "Boat Responsibly."

This shift will allow us to be an even better partner and better illustrate our commitment to provide support to the “Wear It!” campaign headed by the National Safe Boating Council. When we concentrate less on emphasizing our own organizations, and work together to save lives through a unified campaign like "Wear It!" – we get great results.