Safe Boating Awareness Week May 16 to 22, 2026 Keeping you and your crew safe on the water is of utmost importance. The following five key boating messages will help keep you safe: 1. Wear Your Life jacket Over 80% of Canadians who drown while boating were either not wearing a life jacket or wearing one improperly. Modern life jackets and personal flotation devices are designed for comfort and mobility, making it easier than ever to wear one at all times while on the water. Make sure you have a properly sized life jacket or PFD for each person onboard. 2. Boat Sober Alcohol, cannabis, and other impairing substances significantly increase the risk of boating accidents and fatalities. Operating a boat while impaired is illegal and dangerous for everyone on the water. 3. Be Cold Water Safe Cold water shock can affect even experienced swimmers. Sudden immersion in cold water can impact breathing, mobility, and survival time. Wearing a life jacket greatly improves your...
Posts
Pre-Departure Checklist
When heading out on the water, one way of ensuring you have what you need for safety is a checklist. Discover Boating has a printable Pre-departure Checklist . Filing a float plan with someone ashore is a safety feature when out on the water. It should include names and contact information for everyone on board, your destination(s) and time you will return to shore. Be sure you close your sail plan on return by checking in with your onshore contact.
Safe Boating Guide
If you are planning to spend time on the water, then it is important to have the required safety gear on board for the size of your boat. Regulations apply to all vessels. The Transport Canada Safe Boating Guide may be downloaded.
Basic Outboard course.
Spent a warm day last week on the water teaching a Basic Outboard Standard course. If you have access to a boat with an outboard, then you may benefit from the course which covers boat handling, weather, basic chart reading, regulations and boating etiquette as well as other topics. Want the standard, however, no boat? My client rented a boat from Victoria Boat Rentals at Port Sidney Marina, for the day and hired me to teach the standard.
How To Read Tide And Current Tables
Knowing how to read Tide and Current Tables is an essential skill for navigating in coastal waters. I have published the following two articles in Street Articles covering this subject: Tidal Currents When Navigating In Coastal Waters Tides When Navigating In Coastal Waters
Warning - Current Station errors on Garmin
I have discovered that Garmin g2 and g2 Vision chart cartridges display ebb currents as floods for Canadian data. Further information is available on the BC Boating Forum . If you are having the same problem, please let me know.
How To Take Compass Bearings
One of the methods to fix the position of your vessel is by taking compass bearings. By having three bearings cross in or near the same location you have accurately determined your position. Taking Bearings When taking compass bearings, used fixed aids for best results. Floating aids can move around with wind or current and the charted position is the position of the mooring, not the buoy. Take the bearings off to each side, one after the other. The bearings on your beam will change quickly while the bearings ahead or astern will hardly change at all due to the boat's motion. If you take the bearings on each side first and then take the bearing either ahead or astern, you will have a more accurate fix. Also check that the bearings you take are not about 180 degrees apart. Ideally the three bearings will be spaced about 120 degrees apart for the most accurate fix. If you are using the end of an island, remember to allow for the height of the tide. With a gently sloping ...