Safety tips from Captain Young
Our Mission at Captain Young Travels is to provide the safest personal tours. When you go out on the water on your own I want you to be prepared for all occasions. Be prepared with a boat safety kit. You can’t always predict an emergency, so be prepared for any situation. Your boat safety kit should be kept on board no matter the size of your boat. Below are some essential items your safety kit should include.
All things are essential when going on a trip with family. SPF, water, snacks, bathing suits! Safety is number one, that should be all of our priorities!
- Flashlight – For the times your dock lights decide not to work an actual flashlight will be much handy then your phone. Flashlight can be used for many things than just at night.
- Duct tape – Man’s best friend can be used on the boat especially when you have a leak. This could also be used when you have a guest that won’t stop talking.
- Bucket – The boat doesn’t have to be leaking for water to get inside, a bucket will remove it. For instance, when the waves are big, water will get into the vessel so a bucket great tool to have.
- First aid kit – It’s a nice little kit for scrapes and cuts. Trust me someone will need a band aide.
- Whistle – It’s a good tool to have in case anyone may need to hear you at night or foggy conditions. In a good example in the movie Titanic we saw Rose blowing a whistle to get the attention so she could be saved.
- Ropes – These can be handy for multiple of occasions such as towing a stranded boat, man overboard, or to use for tubing.
- Garbage bags – Don’t get stuck in the middle of the lake without a garbage bag since you can use them as a poncho to keep your pocket content dry. Plus, we have clean water ways let’s not litter into the ocean or the beautiful lakes.
- Fire extinguisher – This is a no brainer, just keep it on your boat, make sure it’s not expired. The chance of having a fire is slim but having a fire extinguisher that is expired would be bad. Always check to make sure it is not expired.
- Life Buoy – When someone falls out of the boat our first instinct is to jump in and save them. That is not a good idea because most likely we will be saving you as well. The safest thing to do is to throw out the life buoy to them and pull them back into the boat.
- Life jackets – Not your trendiest fashion but it will save your life. This is a no brainer, but you will see people not wearing one because they use to be high school state swimmer. On the ocean and lake, it does not care who you are, when wind hits and the waves are big it does not matter how good of swimmer you are. Life jacket will save your life so wear it.
Common sense - When no other sense makes any sense at all
These are common things that you should always have on the boat. We know that we can’t predict how the waters will treat us. It’s better to be prepared than being in a situation you are not ready for! These are the things I learned as I was growing into a captain. You usually don’t think of things until you really need the tool, then you add it to your list. These are the most common things I have used so far with all my time on the water. One thing I never thought of to have at all times is duct tape, until I had a leak issue on the vessel then I knew I needed some duct tape. So, I could get the leak taped up for a quick fix and get back to the marina safely. Instead, I had to get towed in by a kind stranger, like I said you don’t know everything you may need but this is a good list to get you started. When you hire Captain Young Travels, we will make sure to have all this to keep your friends and family safe on the vessel, another good reason to hire us. Take all the worry away, you sit back and enjoy a day on the water.
