State Boating Injuries at All-Time High

With injuries from California boating accidents at an all-time high, those safeguarding the coastal waterways say that many accidents are caused by boaters who are too young, too ignorant of safety regulations or too drunk to be out in treacherous waters.

Whether during the week or on a busy weekend, when cruising the bays and sea off Southern California with U.S. Coast Guard and lifeguard rescue boats, it is easy to see why.

Consider a recent Saturday--statistically the worst day of the week in California for boating fatalities--on the water with Long Beach rescue boat lifeguards Brad Wilson and Randy Foster.

Cruising Alamitos Bay and the outer breakwater in their 32-foot rescue boat, they receive calls for help that keep them constantly on the move.

In no time at all, they pull two boys, ages 11 and 17, from the choppy surf; tow four distressed vessels to safety and warn many boaters to slow down.

Rescues, disabled boats and boaters who don’t know the “rules of the road” are common, say Long Beach rescue crews, the U.S Coast Guard and Los Angeles County Baywatch teams.

Deaths from boating mishaps are only about half what they were during the early 1980s--a trend attributed in part to better equipment, particularly the widespread availability of VHF marine band radios. But injuries from boating accidents were at an all-time peak during 1996 and show no sign of letting up this year, according to the California Department of Boating and Waterways.

In a just-released statewide summary for 1996, the agency said there were 850 accidents, 537 injuries and 56 fatalities. Those are only the reported accidents and represent as few as 10% of the actual number of accidents, according to the Coast Guard and American Red Cross. There has been a significant increase in the reported number of accidents, injuries and deaths since 1994, the report says.

The surge in boating injuries, after a downturn and leveling off in the late 1980s and early 1990s, has led to a call for tighter regulations.

Safety concerns center on what critics say are lax state regulations that let children as young as 12 operate a motorboat unaccompanied by an adult. Children younger than 12 are allowed to operate boats as long as someone 18 or older is aboard.

In sharp contrast to licenses and safety requirements required of motor vehicle operators, there are no licensing requirements or tests required of boaters.

“You can buy a boat today, drop it in the water, and be in the ocean by nightfall,” said Lt. Cmdr. Pete Basil, chief of the Los Angeles Coast Guard Station on Terminal Island.

Southern California is a hotbed for boating, with about 250,000 of the state’s 860,000 boats registered here.

Although many boaters are experts, some are not. “With the kind of population you have in Southern California, you inevitably find people who aren’t prepared for even basic challenges,” Basil said. “They lack even basic things, like life jackets, adequate fuel, working batteries, a working radio.”

There are requirements, such as carrying life jackets, fire extinguishers and flares on board, but no procedures for learning what is mandated by law.

Youths under 18 on personal watercraft, like Jet Skis and wave runners, are a particular problem.

During 1996, the Department of Boating and Waterways found that boat operators under 18 accounted for 14% of all accidents, 18% of the injuries and 5% of the fatalities. Almost all the youth-involved accidents--93%--involved personal watercraft.

In a confidential report on one San Diego County case, the state agency said that a 9-year-old boy was trying to stand up on a personal watercraft and struck a dock because he couldn’t see over the handlebars. His injuries included a lacerated liver, spleen and kidney bruises, a broken cheekbone and facial cuts.

Alcohol is also a major contributor to boating accidents and fatalities, state investigators say. Drinking was cited as a factor in 39% of all motorboat fatalities in 1996.

Although it is illegal in California to operate a boat when blood alcohol content is 0.08% or above, the same standard that applies to motorists, authorities say many boaters are unaware of the law. Members of the Coast Guard said they are continually astonished that boaters give them the “beer can salute”--waving a beer as they pass by in a gesture of friendliness and boater camaraderie.

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A long-standing laissez faire attitude stems from boating’s acceptance as a leisure activity, an attitude that carries over to law enforcement. Lifeguards and Coast Guard officers see their role as saving lives and educating the public, not making arrests, although they say they are quick to draw the line if a boater is obviously drunk or is endangering others.

“These people work hard all week and come out on weekends to relax. We are not out here to hassle them,” said Long Beach lifeguard Foster, who has been patrolling the city’s waters for more than 20 years.

The strongest resistance to motor vehicle-type regulation has come from boaters and the boating industry, which have successfully fended off periodic legislative efforts to impose licensing requirements.

“People don’t necessarily believe that having a license on you guarantees anything,” said Jerry Desmond Jr., Sacramento lobbyist for the Recreational Boaters of California, which says it represents the interests of 3 million boaters in California. “A license is a license, something that Big Brother has on you.”

But pressure is mounting for tougher laws.

“Why should people operating motorboats that go 60 mph be treated any differently than people who operate motor vehicles going the same speed?” said B. Chris Brewster, chief of the San Diego Lifeguard Service, who is helping lead the charge for stronger laws.

“Waterways are actually more difficult to operate safely on than roadways,” Brewster said. “On roadways, there is a certain amount of order: lines, lights, laid-out streets. On the water, you have no lines. Traffic can come at you from every point on the compass. You have stressors like sun beating down on you and wave action. Motorboats are made of fiberglass without safety features like seat belts and air bags.”

Even the Recreational Boaters of California, organized in 1964 in part to fight licensing of boat operators, is bending, albeit slightly.

The organization now supports a bill introduced in the state Senate this year by Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) that would boost the minimum age to operate a motorboat unaccompanied by an adult from 12 to 16 (sailboats would be exempted) and phase in a requirement that any boat operator under 21 be required to complete a boating safety course.

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Originally the bill would have required DMV-type licenses, but it has been watered down by amendments forced in part by the boating industry, Rosenthal said. “You can’t get everything you want,” the senator said. Rosenthal said he introduced the legislation after hearing that two girls, ages 12 and 13, were killed last year on a personal watercraft on the Colorado River and was astonished to find “that anyone 12 and up can drive virtually any kind of recreational boat.”

A lack of basic boating skills, particularly on the ocean, can be lethal, authorities say.

“The sea will grab you in an instant if you are not careful,” Coast Guard Chief Basil said.

In recent weeks, Southern California has had a series of high-profile tragedies and near tragedies involving boaters:

* Three Ventura County fishermen died off San Nicholas Island last month when their commercial fishing boat sank. The Coast Guard said they did not appear to have inflatable life rafts as required on commercial fishing boats.

* Sixteen members of a film crew shooting an adult movie on Santa Catalina Island were pulled from a yacht just minutes before it went under on a cold night in the Catalina Channel. The accident was caused by a broken hose that caused the engine compartment to fill with water, the Coast Guard said. Although the boat had modern radio and navigational equipment aboard, the Coast Guard said the rescue was complicated because the skipper did not understand how to use it.

* A Secret Service agent drowned and a fellow agent made it to safety after they were knocked out of their runabout in Long Beach Harbor in March. Investigators said they weren’t wearing life jackets.

Despite the Pacific’s appearance of gentle calm and the often sunny skies over Southland waters, the sea is far from harmless.

“Hazardous weather and water conditions were the most common cause of boating fatalities in 1996, contributing to 45% of fatal accidents,” investigators said in the Department of Boating and Waterways annual report. “Many of these accidents happened on ocean and bay waters and occurred because operators went boating even though small craft advisories were posted.”