Boating in general is regarded as a leisure activity of traveling by boat, that are found to refer to the amateurish use of boats whether power boats, sail boats, or yachts, large vessels, focused on the travel itself. However, boating is also regarded as a unique sporting activity that is involved in the sports of fishing or waterskiing. Due to the presence of these highly interesting sports, there is no doubt that boating is indeed an extremely popular activity in the international arena, and in general there is the availability of three millions of boaters. Whatever it is, if you are interested in the sporting activities of boating you need to know about safety measures. The reason is that due to the absence of safety measures, there have been many unfortunate incidents in the world, leading to a great number of casualties.

What are these safety measures or equipments? The first of these happen to be the Personal flotation devices (PFD) or Lifejackets. In the realm of the United States of America there is the requirement of one approved Type I, II or III PFD for each person on board or being towed on water skis, etc.; and one throw able Type IV device. A type V PFD may be used in stead of wearing a PFD as long as it is approved for the activity in which it is being used. A type IV lifejacket is required for all boats over 16ft, which is a Throw able flotation device. NOTE; Coast Guard requires special PFD's for children under 12 and wearing them on deck is mandatory, whereas for Adults wearing is only recommended. What is the necessity of these types of life jackets? It is to be noted, that these types of life jackets are found to provide the best buoyancy. Besides, they are found to be effective for all waters, especially open, rough, or remote waters where rescue may be delayed. These life jackets are specially made to turn someone to a face up position if they are unconscious for any reason. While the adult size provides at least 22 pounds of buoyancy, the child size, 11 pounds, minimum.

There is also the requirement of good sound signals. Every vessel 39.4 ft (12 meters) or larger in length must carry a whistle or horn and a bell. The whistle must be able to be heard up to one half mile away. The mouth of the bell must be at least 7.87 inches (200mm) in diameter. However you do not need to carry a bell if you are operating on international waters. Every vessel less than 39.4 ft (12 meters) in length must carry an efficient sound producing device. Not only this, there should also be the presence of suitable fire extinguishers. If the boats are found to be less than 16ft, there is the need of one B-I type approved hand portable fire extinguisher. At several times large boats, ranging between 26ft to 40ft are used. In those cases there is there is the requirement of two B-I type or one B-II type approved portable fire extinguishers. To conclude, there is also the requirement of other essential features to ensure the notion of safety while boating, but these happen to be the most important.

If you’re a bad sailor like me, then you will probably prefer to learn to play billiards then going boating. These billiard techniques will have you playing and winning in no time.