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[Rodney]

A few weeks ago, Nina and I decided to visit Alta lake in Whistler for a day of trout fishing. It is a lake that we have visited for several years now. We enjoy it for a couple of reasons – The good fishing for trout at various sizes and the calmness due to the absence of speed boats.

When we arrived at the launch around early afternoon, a RCMP officer and a conservation officer were getting ready to launch their boat. I decided to wait for them to finish as we had plenty of time. Once their boat was in the water to do their patrol, I eagerly approached them with our freshwater fishing licences and my pleasure craft licence just to demonstrate what a law abiding citizen I am.

Once the licences were checked and I was about to happily walk away to get our boat ready, the conservation officer started to do a check list.

“Do you have your life jacks?”
“Yep!”
“Do you have a sound signal device like a whistle?”
“Um, no…”
“Do you have a watertight flashlight?”
“Uh, no…”
“How about a 15m buoyant heaving line?”
“Yes but it’s in the car…”
“Finally, you need a bailer.”
“Yeah, we don’t have one of those either.”

The officer explained that these items are needed for our boat, which is measured 10′ in length and has an electric motor on it. The required items are listed in the boater exam, which I have conveniently forgotten since taking it a couple of years ago. Without these items while we were operating the boat, we could have been facing a potential fine of $300! The officer “suggested” that we should obtain those items before heading out and enjoying the day, so I took a detour to the hardware store and purchased what were needed for our trip. Although it was a slight convenience, the fault was ours for not following the rules after all.

This is a good reminder that you should be well prepared before you start your boating trip this summer, both for the safety and avoiding a large fine from enforcement, which seems to be stepping up on their patrol this season. If you have not taken your boater exam and obtained your pleasure craft licence, please do that first by going to this website! You can find a list of all the required items for your boat on this page.

[bbronswyk2000]

My boat is fully equipped. With fishing gear!!!!! LOL

Bailer? Sure I have a 1 liter bottle of water I will drink that can become a bailer within seconds. Sound signal device? Ya my wife when she is in the boat with me. Watertight flashlight? Yep my iPhone in a lifeproof watertight case.

In all seriousness yes we should all carry these things. How many of us actually have all of them though? A whistle takes no room to carry so thats an easy one.

[Driller]

I recently upsized our oat and that was the first stuff I bought.  Even before beer holders and scotty mounts.  Anchor required, re-boarding device depending on height, fire extinguisher, water proof light, bailer, paddles, sound device with no pea, uh...life jackets of course...., uh.....maybe more stuff, oh, first aid kit, tools, spare prop, spare pull cord, marine radio.....?  Maybe more.  You can't be too prepared.  ROPE!   

[Easywater]

Can get pretty expensive if you get caught.

I saw a post on another board saying he was given a warning but the number of problem he had would add up to over $900 in fines.
(no lifejackets, no flashlight, no boat operators card on him & more - about $230 per infraction)

Most of the stuff can be covered with a $10 kit from CanTire (whistle, bailer, flashlight, tossing line).

[oolichan2]

Good advice Rod. It sounds like more boats are getting checked - you're the third person I've heard getting checked on the water this year.

[EZ_Rolling]

Check to all of the above.

 

[YetiHunter]

If you've ever been in an emergency situation in a boat where someone ended up injured or deceased - my guess is you will never leave the dock again without all the safety gear required and maybe more.
Yeah, any type of container for a bailing can may keep you from getting fined, but if your boat starts filling up with water, you will be sorry you didn't take one that actually works.

It's dangerous enough on the water even with all the correct gear....to go without it is tempting fate.

Thanks for the reminder Rodney.

[arimaBOATER]

Being a boater myself I've had some scary times on the Fraser from New Westminster to Sandheads.( standing waves / waves colliding into wake waves under our boat , currents / tide changes )
Definately YetiHunter tells it as it is.

Today's CBC BC local news had 2 stories of local boating mishaps.

On Sat. after the fireworks some boat ran into rocks by Stanley Park.
Last night ( Sun) I heard the CCG hovercraft roaring on the Fraser R south of our home.
As it turns out two boats collided over by Ladner.

About 1.5 wks ago a big wave hit a boat in Georgia Straight & two guys were thrown in the water.
They were holding on to an ice cooler when they were rescued.

Ice cooler became part of the important equipment in this case.

Heard of another BC pleasure boat that caught on fire this past wkend. ( on a lake in this case I think ? )

Ya can never be too careful when boating on BC waters.

[Sandman]

Yes, I got the self-contained kit (the bailer is the container and holds the flashlight, whistle and rope) right after I wrote the exam.  Easy enough to toss in the boat and know you have what you need.