Marine Rescue chief calls on skippers for greater boating safety care

7:22 AM Tue 9 Feb 2010 GMT

'Marine Rescue NSW - doing the job, but concerned by the number of tragedies' .

A tragic run of drownings in recent boating accidents has prompted Glenn Finniss, Acting Commissioner of Marine Rescue NSW, to call on skippers to take greater care when boating.

"Last Thursday a woman and a family dog drowned in a boat capsize in Tasmania," said A/Commissioner Finniss. "On Friday a man was thrown overboard when his boat was hit by a wave on the Gold Coast, He was lucky. He escaped with his life. Yesterday another man didn't. He drowned when he was thrown from his boat by a wave on the NSW Mid North Coast."

"Time and time again it is demonstrated that most of these tragedies are avoidable," said Finniss. "The simple act of wearing a lifejacket could have prevented many of the drownings that have occurred recently as a result of boating accidents."

Last year a fisherman died after falling overboard from his tinny on the South Coast and within swimming distance of shore. He was not wearing a life jacket. Another man fell overboard from his fishing boat off Port Stephens. He was also not wearing a life jacket. But he was found after more than 4 hours alone in the ocean.

An emergency at sea can happen at any time. Sometimes it can happen too fast to grab life jackets before you're in the water. So smart skippers know to wear their life jackets and ensure their passengers do too.

Smart skippers know that wearing a lifejacket at sea makes exactly the same kind of safety sense as wearing a seatbelt in your car.

Find out more about safer boating with Marine Rescue NSW. Contact your local Marine Rescue unit and find out about the services provided including Safe Boating courses, Marine Radio training and the Marine Rescue Radio Log-On safety watch for each time you go out.

For a full list of all volunteer marine rescue units in NSW, go to www.marinerescuensw.com.au

You'll find the volunteers are helpful, knowledgeable and very keen to help you stay in the Volunteer Marine Rescue Safety Net.

by Ken McManus