Fire, Coast Guard Officials Urge Boaters to Be Prepared After Bay Area Rescues Increase

By Bay City News Service:

After receiving an unusually high volume of calls to rescue unprepared boaters, the Menlo Park Fire Protection District is asking the seagoing public to make themselves easier to rescue.

The district’s airboat crew typically responds to 15 or 20 calls for stranded boaters near the Alviso Slough in an average year but last month they responded to five such calls, according to fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman.

As a result Schapelhouman is urging boaters to bring the appropriate gear, know the tides, remember where they launch from and understand the weather conditions that will affect them on the water.

“They’re either ill prepared or their vessels are not sea worthy,” Schapelhouman said. “Or they get themselves in trouble because of the fog.”

“We’re spending an inordinate amount of time looking for people who don’t even know where they are,” he said.

Having a GPS device makes it possible to relay latitude and longitude to rescuers, rather than relying on landmarks. Flare guns and strobes can also be helpful in dark or foggy conditions. It’s also important to stay in the main channel of the bay, especially during high tide events when venturing closer to shore can leave boats stranded as the tide goes out.

“A lot of those vessels got caught in places where they shouldn’t have ever been,” Schapelhouman said. “Even though the water went higher, as soon as it started to drop they got stuck.”

Schapelhouman is reminding boaters in the bay not to leave the dock without flotation devices for everyone on board and cold-weather survival gear in case people get stranded on the water overnight. Cellphones, satellite phones or marine radios are also critical for establishing communications, which is the first step to getting rescued.

Officials with the U.S. Coast Guard also urge the seagoing public to file “float plans,” which are similar to flight plans for airplanes.

“In the event that a vessel does go missing there’s someone on land that can give the Coast Guard an idea as to where to start the search,” Lt. Sean Kelley said.

More information about boating safety, including float plans, boat inspection and suggested safety equipment is available at http://www.uscgboating.org.

(Image via Shutterstock)