Boating Safety

So far this year, there have been three deaths due to boating accidents on Pyramid Lake, a popular recreational spot near Santa Clarita. Last year, there were only four boating deaths and 23 injuries in all of Los Angeles County. Officials say that Pyramid Lake is not especially hazardous--boating accidents occur on waterways anywhere. But accidents can often be avoided, water safety officials say, by following basic regulations and properly equipping your boat.

Hoping to promote lifejacket use and offer tips on avoiding dangerous conditions on the water, officials at Channel Islands Harbor are staging their first National Safe Boating Day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today. The public can tour Oxnard's Coast Guard station, at 4201 S. Victoria Ave., as well as the cutter Black Tip and other vessels. Demonstrations of air, sea and fire rescues will be conducted at 10 a.m.

Stricter boating safety regulations for Anaheim Bay have been adopted by the Board of Supervisors. The regulations, which bring the county's ordinance into line with stricter federal regulations, "are intended to increase boating safety and should pose no hardship in compliance," Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said. Under federal law, the bay is a "special use area" for military operations. The county regulations were amended Jan.

THE head of the federal agency that investigates transportation accidents is pressing California officials to require mandatory safety instruction for all boat operators. Mark Rosenker, acting chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, met with officials from the state Department of Boating and Waterways last month to encourage the agency to pursue boat safety legislation. The agency plans to hold meetings with boaters early next year.

Hundreds of preventable drownings have prompted federal regulators to consider whether to require boaters to wear life vests, igniting a safety-versus-personal freedom debate akin to the clash over mandatory motorcycle helmets. The National Transportation Safety Board recently held a forum in Virginia during which boating safety officials discussed new laws to make the use of life vests mandatory. Meanwhile, boating industry representatives blasted the government for meddling.

It was sundown and Dale Rose, his gun in his holster, was cruising along at 35 m.p.h. on Shasta Lake behind the wheel of the 19-foot Marlin jet boat, its nose rearing high out of the water. "We're like cops on a beat, patrolling a lake with more water than San Francisco Bay, a lake with 370 miles of shoreline," shouted Rose, a tall, husky, 43-year-old ninth-grade math teacher, over the roar of the motor and the constant pounding of the boat against wind-whipped white caps.

When warm weather brings a wondrous mix of vessels to Orange County's coast, let's hope they all find a way to get along--and safely. Harbor Patrol Sgt. Ron Peoples surprised me when I asked if it is just a few who are unsafe on the water: "Unfortunately, it's the majority who seem to be uneducated about boating safety," he said. One problem hard to ignore is the personal watercraft, the biggest-selling boats in California.

In 1984, for his senior business project at USC, David La Montagne, a licensed yacht captain and ferry boat operator, created on paper a sort of auto club towing service for boaters stranded at sea. The idea earned him an award from USC, an A in the class and became the basis of a real-life business that is now earning a living for La Montagne and six full-time employees at Vessel Assist, the Costa Mesa company that grew out of La Montagne's college project.

Bill Thomas Jr. of Alta Loma became the latest victim of drag-boat racing Sunday when he died after his speedboat flipped during a world-record attempt at Puddingstone Reservoir in Frank G. Bonelli County Regional Park in San Dimas, authorities said. Thomas, 33, known on the drag-boat circuit as Chilly Willy, was pronounced dead at San Dimas Community Hospital at 12:40 p.m., said Bill Wehner of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. Thomas was going about 160 m.p.h. along a quarter-mile course during the International Hot Boat Assn.

Critics of a proposed boating and safety center at Channel Islands Harbor assailed an environmental review of the project Wednesday, calling it biased and inadequate. The 300-page study failed to fully investigate the traffic, environmental and safety implications of building a 26,000-square-foot center at the Oxnard-area marina, several speakers told a Ventura County environmental review panel.

A tour-boat accident on New York's Lake George that killed 20 people earlier this month raised questions about the safety of smaller passenger vessels, such as tour boats, ferries and fishing charters. How shipshape are such vessels? The short answer is that, in the U.S. at least, you're quite safe -- statistically speaking. But there are worrisome gaps in regulations. Passengers can take steps to protect their own safety.

Tasmanian devils of the breakwater, or upstanding citizens of the surf? Either way, those zippy little speed demons with names like WaveRunner, Sea-Doo and Jet Ski are heading our way, as Memorial Day marks the start of the high season for personal watercraft use. "Just make sure to watch your speed," the manager at Marina Boat Rentals in Marina del Rey says before handing a visitor the keys to a two-person Yamaha WaveRunner.

Ventura County officials said Friday they are moving quickly to secure funding for a boating safety center at Channel Islands Harbor that was approved this week. The California Coastal Commission voted 7 to 3 on Wednesday in favor of the two-story, 20,000-square-foot center that county officials hope will breathe new life into the aging county-owned marina near Oxnard. Ventura County is the largest coastal county in California without a boating safety center.

Recreational boaters are more likely to die in winter accidents than during the summertime, the latest U.S. Coast Guard statistics show. Although fewer boating accidents occur when the water is cold, nearly one in four boating accidents in November and December 2003 were fatal, compared with less than one in 14 in July, the busiest month for boating. Hypothermia is the leading killer in cold-weather accidents.

Hundreds of preventable drownings have prompted federal regulators to consider whether to require boaters to wear life vests, igniting a safety-versus-personal freedom debate akin to the clash over mandatory motorcycle helmets. The National Transportation Safety Board recently held a forum in Virginia during which boating safety officials discussed new laws to make the use of life vests mandatory. Meanwhile, boating industry representatives blasted the government for meddling.

The air that killed Mark Tostado on Labor Day weekend was calm and hot, the product of the sunny days that draw boaters year-round to Lake Havasu, on the California-Arizona line. Tostado, 31, a Huntington Beach personal fitness trainer and military veteran, had waded into the lake's shallow Bridgewater Channel last year to say goodbye to a woman standing behind two idling boats. She playfully stole his hat and turned away. When she looked back less than a minute later, Tostado was gone.

Richard Beaudry has hauled 43 dead people out of the calm, warm waters of Lake Havasu in his 19 years as an Arizona Game and Fish Department warden here. Some of those people drowned in swimming or diving accidents. About 80% of them, however, died in boating incidents mostly attributed to excessive speed, intoxication or inexperience. Nearly all were from California. "If I don't have a dead body this July 4 weekend I'll consider it a success," said Beaudry.

The air that killed Mark Tostado on Labor Day weekend was calm and hot, the product of the sunny days that draw boaters year-round to Lake Havasu, on the California-Arizona line. Tostado, 31, a Huntington Beach personal fitness trainer and military veteran, had waded into the lake's shallow Bridgewater Channel last year to say goodbye to a woman standing behind two idling boats. She playfully stole his hat and turned away. When she looked back less than a minute later, Tostado was gone.

THE PACIFIC IS DOZING, ABOUT AS animated as a bowl of soup. But to Avalon Harbor patrolman Orne Carstarphen, it's a con, a ruse. He knows that his blue front yard can at any moment revert to its status as a card-carrying ocean, one that can slap around interlopers. "I've heard people refer to crossing the channel as 'going across the pond.'

Opponents of a proposed boating instruction center at Channel Islands Harbor on Wednesday assailed an environmental review as inadequate and biased. Jon Ziv, a dentist who lives near the proposed project, said studies of wind patterns, traffic and alternative locations were flawed because they were based on "grossly false and inadequate data."