Savannah boaters need to slow their roll and exercise caution on the water
What kind of boater are you?
The question is a common one around these parts, where tides, currents, sandbars, mudflats and marshes make boating more than a simple recreational pursuit. Operating a motorboat isn't rocket science, but you need to respect the vessel, other boats and obstructions and, most importantly, the water.
So the correct answer to the aforementioned question is "cautious." Not veteran, novice, good, reckless or scared. The mindboggling string of boating accidents locally in recent weeks suggests we don't have enough cautious boaters on our waterways right now, a scary thought as we head into the July 4 weekend.
The cautious boater gives others plenty of room. The cautious boater observes rules around idle speed in no wake zones and around docks, bridges and other obstructions. The cautious boater doesn't operate after dark without some serious navigational technology.
I spend several hours a week on the water this time of year. There's no mistaking the fact that there are more boats operating this summer than in the last several. Motoring along the Wilmington River on Sunday, the stretch around the Savannah Yacht Club might as well have been Times Square at rush hour. The reachable-by-boat-only beaches are packed each weekend.
Boaters like to complain about the high marine gas prices, but the costs haven't slowed the demand.
Boaters need to slow their roll. If you are a boater or know a boater or go out on the water with boaters, ask him or her the question: What kind of boater are you? And if you get the wrong answer, set them straight. The cautious boater is the best boater.
For more opinions like these, subscribe to SavannahNow.com, the online edition of the Savannah Morning News. You'll find a variety of commentaries and letters from a cross-section of Savannah area and Georgia opinion makers, and you'll be supporting local journalism as the same time.
Scroll down for some of the week's best opinion columns. Also check out …
On the Commute podcast, the Forsyth Park master plan's final draft has been submitted to the City of Savannah. Journalists Zoe Nicholson and Katie Nussbaum unpack the details and the group behind the master plan.
On the relaunched Difference Makers podcast, Book Nation of Dreamers' Dream Smith is fighting youth illiteracy one book at a time.
Subscribe for free to listen: Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
— Written by Opinion Columnist Adam Van Brimmer. Contact him at avanbrimmer@SavannahNow.com and follow him on Twitter @SavannahNow. Read more posts like this in the Savannah Town Square Facebook group.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Boating accidents common in Savannah as operators show lack of respect
