Sail informed. Dock with confidence.

The boater's safety brief

Safe boating starts before the lines come off

More than 80% of recreational boating incidents the U.S. Coast Guard investigates trace back to preventable causes. None of the top causes are weather.

The leading causes are:

• • Alcohol use
• • Operator inattention
• • Inexperience
• • Excessive speed
• • Machinery failure that a pre-departure check would catch

The single best safety habit is a real departure routine. Before you cast off:

• • File a float plan with someone ashore
• • Test the VHF on Channel 16
• • Stage life jackets within arm's reach
• • Confirm fuel and a dry bilge
• • Pull a current NOAA marine forecast for the full passage

Docking safety

Read the wind and current first

Stop the boat 100 yards off the slip and watch what the harbor is doing. Look for three things:

• • Which way are the dock pennants blowing
• • Which way are halyards on moored boats slapping
• • Which way is debris drifting on the surface

Wind and current rarely agree. The dominant force is usually whichever one is moving the heaviest object. Beam-on wind above 15 knots turns most routine slips into a multi-attempt approach.

For a per-slip read on the day, see our docking difficulty score.

Crew brief, fender brief, line brief

Before you commit to the approach, every crew member should know:

• • Which line they are handling
• • Which cleat or piling it goes to
• • Which side of the boat their fenders sit

A botched docking is rarely the helm's fault. Usually it's a missed line, a fender on the wrong side, or a crew member who jumps to the dock too early. Hit the slip at a walking pace — slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

Weather safety

Read more than the headline forecast

A "10 knots, scattered showers" headline is a summary, not a passage plan. Pull the full picture instead:

• • The hourly NOAA marine forecast for your zone
• • The GFS or HRRR model wind grids
• • The radar loop for the past three hours
• • The wind direction over the next 12 hours

A 90-degree wind shift halfway through your passage will create steep, confused seas in any wind-against-current corridor. Our marine weather pages and wind forecast stack model output against NOAA station observations.

Lightning and thunderstorms

If the radar shows convection within 50 nm of your route during transit hours, stay tied up. Thunderstorms can drop microburst downdrafts that hit a calm anchorage at 50+ knots — with less than 10 minutes of warning. Florida summer afternoons, the Chesapeake in July, and the Great Lakes in any unstable airmass deserve extra respect.

Fog

For low-visibility passages, run with:

• • A radar reflector aloft
• • AIS transponder on
• • Fog signals at the required interval
• • A posted lookout

If visibility drops below half a mile and you don't have radar, the safe move is to anchor — or slow to bare steerage and stay clear of charted channels.

Hurricane preparation

Pick the basin before the season

Hurricane safety is a real-estate decision made in May, not a docking decision made in September. The best storm slips share three traits:

• • Floating concrete docks in a protected basin
• • A written hurricane plan with engineered tie-down points
• • A clear vacate trigger tied to the named-storm cone

Browse our hurricane-safe marinas for shortlisted options across South Florida, the Carolinas, the Gulf Coast, and Chesapeake Bay.

Tie-down plan

Before the cone gets close, prep the boat:

• • Double up dock lines and add chafe gear at every chock
• • Set spring lines fore and aft
• • Hang storm-rated fenders
• • Strip canvas, stow sails, and remove dinghies and antennas
• • Seal the salon and hatches

Most marina hurricane plans require larger vessels to depart for a hurricane hole. Know your trigger before the cone hits 72 hours.

Insurance documentation

Photograph the boat from every angle the week before the storm. Save the timestamped images offline. Confirm your insurer's hurricane endorsement requirements:

• • Haul-out clauses
• • Named-storm deductibles
• • Geographic exclusions

The cheapest insurance is a written plan executed early.

Emergency procedures

VHF distress

Channel 16 is the international distress and hailing frequency.

• MAYDAY × 3 — for life-threatening situations (sinking, fire, person overboard, medical emergency)
• PAN-PAN × 3 — for urgent but non-life-threatening (disabled with no immediate danger, lost, request for tow)

Use this format every time: vessel name × 3, MAYDAY × 3, position (lat/long or bearing/distance from a charted feature), nature of distress, persons aboard, what you need.

When to call 911 vs Coast Guard

In U.S. waters, 911 will route maritime emergencies to the right Coast Guard sector. If you have a working VHF, hail Channel 16 first. The Coast Guard can triangulate your signal and coordinate nearby vessels faster than a phone-only call. Cell phones lose coverage well before the horizon line.

Person overboard

If a crew member goes over, act fast:

• • Shout "MAN OVERBOARD"
• • Post a pointer who never breaks eye contact with the person
• • Hit the MOB button on the GPS or chartplotter
• • Throw a floating cushion or horseshoe buoy
• • Run a recovery maneuver: figure-eight, Williamson turn, or quick-stop for sailboats

Recovery practice is the difference between a story and a tragedy.

For phone-dial emergency contacts in U.S. waters and the Bahamas, see our maritime emergency reference.

Frequently asked safety questions