New England Coast Guard Releases Boating Safety Checklist for Summer 2019

Latti and Anderson LLP joins the Coast Guard in welcoming the unofficial start to Summer this past weekend. The Memorial Day holiday is a special time of year for the long-suffering New Englanders who have endured cold temperatures, Nor’easters, Snow, Sleet, and just about anything else Mother Nature can hand us. No matter where this past weekend found you and your friends and family celebrating we hope it was a safe one.  The Coast Guard has put together an extensive list of boating safety checklist and it can be found on their website at  www.uscgboating.org.  The boating season brings all sorts of excitement for new owners to try out those offseason purchases of recreational watercraft.  If your plans involve enjoying the waters of rivers, lakes, and the ocean this summer you should have a plan for yourself and family safety. You need to make sure to watch out for inexperienced or new drivers, inappropriate and negligently operated watercraft, as well as boaters who simply do not know the rules of safe boating.

The Coast Guard’s list for encouraging safe boating and water recreation is a safe and sensible approach to enjoying the water this Summer.  However, what do you do if that Summer fun turns for the worse and you or your family and friends find yourself in a situation that has gone from fun in the sun to property damage, injury, or worse a hospital visit?

Latti and Anderson LLP has put together a checklist to prepare yourself or others if your involved with a recreational watercraft outing that results in an unsafe or injurious outcome.

1. CALL COAST GUARD: Get the injured person to safety by contacting either the Coast Guard, Harbor Master, Environmental Police or local law enforcement officials.
2. MEDICAL HELP: Get immediate Medical aid for those persons injured! If you do not know who to call or what to do-Dial 911.
3. PHOTOGRAPHS: Put that Smartphone to work for you! If you are safely able to safely do so, take pictures of what has happened and what is around you.  You or a family member or friend are in the best position to help yourselves against a negligent watercraft operator.  Take photos of anything such as coolers, empty or full alcohol containers, people who are on the scene, damage to the watercraft if any.  The more photo documentation you have will help you in the future.
4. WITNESSES: Don’t stop there! Ask people for names, take a photo of people’s licenses who saw what happened or think they know what happened.  Get the names of the operators of the watercraft and any name the watercraft has on itself.
5. LOCATION & CONDITIONS: Try to get a position of where you are, such as the town, GPS location on the ocean, and anything else like significant landmarks or structures near your location. Make sure to take note of the type of day it is.  What are the water conditions, visibility, amount of water traffic, cloudy or sunny, and anything else such as rain or fog?  The more you or others do now will hold those responsible for your injuries, to tell the truth.

So, go outside and enjoy the summer!  We hope you have a safe and happy Summer season with your family and friends.  Latti and Anderson LLP is here if you need us or have questions.  You can always read and learn about us on www.lattianderson.com or call us at 1-800-392-6072.