Boating safety expert shares tips as water accident figures climb

While summer boating brings great pleasure to most, one expert shared a bevy of resources for boaters to stay safe and avoid tragedy as water accident figures climb. 

Capt. Geoff Fahringer is a 50-year career law enforcement officer who worked in upstate New York where he was a SWAT officer and major crimes detective. He joined the Collier County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, where he was part of the sheriff’s department dive team. He is a licensed U.S. Coast Guard boating captain and boating safety expert. 

“One of the most common dangerous things that I’ve seen on the water in my experience is people are just untrained,” Fahringer told Fox News Digital. 

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“For example, you’ll see someone on a boat and they’ve got the kids riding on the bow with their feet hanging off the front of the boat as they’re going down a river or going on the water. And a lack of life jackets, overloading a boat, just basic things that if they had training, which is my big thing, would really alleviate a lot of the accidents that we see.” 

The Coast Guard’s Boating Safety Division keeps statistics on recreational boating accidents, their causes and subsequent injuries or deaths. 

According to data from 2023, the latest year for which it is available, operator inexperience accounted for 414 boating accidents, resulting in 200 injuries and 44 deaths. Navigation rules violations accounted for 210 accidents, resulting in 214 injuries and 24 deaths. 

In early June, two Florida men were charged with violating the Coast Guard’s navigational rules before their vessel struck and killed 15-year-old ballerina Ella Adler last year. Adler was wakeboarding in Key Biscayne at the time. 

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Recently, a sport fishing boat slammed into a jetty in Meschutt Beach, part of Suffolk County, New York. Four were injured in that crash, which is under investigation. 

The Coast Guard counted 3,844 boating mishaps that year, causing 564 deaths, 2,126 injuries and a $63 million in property damage. The report says that 75 percent of fatal boating accident victims drowned, and of those 88 percent were not wearing a life jacket. 

“A lot of the stuff we just see is just carelessness, and a lot is based on someone who just doesn’t know,” Fahringer said. “Doesn’t know the right kind of life jacket, somebody’s pulling their kids on a tube or wakeboarding, and they don’t have a spotter, they’re running in an area where there’s boat traffic instead of finding someplace quiet. A lot of it’s just common sense stuff that causes a lot the problems.” 

Fahringer is a proponent of safety checklists, and says that every boater should complete one before hitting open waters. 

“Go through a checklist and go through all the things that you want to make sure that you’ve got on the boat [and] that the boat’s working correctly,” he said. “Just get the habit of doing that. Just go through a little checklist every time you leave.

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He also offered some less obvious tips and safety training ideas that boaters may not consider. 

“A lot of people rely on a cellular phone, which don’t always work, especially if they go offshore,” Fahringer said. “A VHF radio really is a must. And if you have a radio in your boat, get in the habit of turning it on, even if it’s turned down in the background.” 

VHF radio channel 16 is the universal distress channel. He said marine authorities often hear and respond to calls on that channel before 911, which can help especially if a boat is far from the shore. 

“You need to be your own first responder in a lot of cases,” he said. That channel 16 VHF radio, [helps] both for you to be able to call for help, but also you could have someone in distress that’s literally 200 yards away. And you could be that person to save someone if you’re aware of what’s going on.”

Taking first aid classes, or at least bleed-stopping training, can also be very valuable in a situation where help is far away. 

Danger can lurk in the water, too. 

Fahringer cautioned of stinging jellyfish, riptides, sharp objects that can cause abrasions and potentially harmful bacteria, which are common issues faced by those swimming in the water. 

At the end of the day, Fahringer said, boaters should enjoy being on the water, but a little bit of caution goes a long way to ensuring safety.