The moment you take the helm you accept a set of duties that do not transfer to anyone else aboard. Some are written into law. Some are the difference between a good day and a rescue.
Duties the law puts on you
- Operate at a safe speed for conditions, traffic, and visibility — a posted limit is a ceiling, not a permission.
- Keep a proper lookout at all times, by sight and by hearing.
- Follow the navigation rules for meeting, crossing, and overtaking, and give way when the rules say you must.
- Stay clear of no-wake zones, swimmers, divers-down flags, and anchored vessels.
- Never operate impaired. Boating under the influence is an offense in every state and carries penalties that can reach your driver's license.
- Render aid and report accidents that meet your state's threshold.
You are responsible for your wake
A wake is not weather; it is something you made. Damage to a moored boat, a dock, or a person thrown from a seat can be laid at the operator's feet.
Slow well before you reach a marina, an anchored boat, a work barge, or a fishing skiff — not as you pass it.
The float plan
Tell someone ashore where you are going, who is with you, a description of the boat, and when to expect you back. If you do not come back, that plan is what searchers work from.
It can be a text message. It just has to exist and it has to be with someone who will act on it.
Brief your passengers
- Where the life jackets, throwable, extinguisher, and first aid kit are.
- How to call for help on VHF channel 16 and on a phone.
- How to shut down the engine if you go over the side.
- Where to sit, and to keep hands and feet inside the boat.
When it goes wrong
Stop. Account for everyone aboard by name. Get people into life jackets. Then decide whether this is a call for help or a problem you can solve at idle.
The mistakes that compound are the ones made in the first thirty seconds at speed. Slowing down costs nothing.
General boating safety education, not legal advice. Rules differ by state — confirm the requirement where you boat with your state boating agency.