Traffic cops and boating rules

[itchvet]

Certainly the State Police can enforce water safety laws. Though it sounds like the Police Officer may have been exaggerating a couple of points.

Nowhere can I find anything defining where a navigation light must be positioned on a small power vessel, except that the Port/Starboard Red green navigation lights must be visible for at least 2 nautical miles in a 112.5* arc from the bow back towards the stern and that there must be a white "Masthead" light visible for 360* in all directions for the same distance.

Likewise I cannot find anything in the PFD regs about the "minor fading" or a "minor tear" in the compliance tag.  It does stand to reason that both the lights, PFD's and all other safety gear must be in serviceable condition though.
I do know that inflatable PFD's must be inspected/serviced annually, some brands do however allow for owner inspection and signoff instead of requiring return to an authorised agent for inspection.

A couple of things to watch out for:
* When launching if there is only a single person on board (As is common) PFD MUST be worn ('Heightened risk' as loan occupant).

* Motor vehicle seat belt laws apply at boat ramps and carparks. (Though whilst actually launching or retrieving on the ramp you could probably talk you way out of a fine on safety grounds due to the need to quickly exit the vehicle in case the vehicle was to end up in the water..

* No One should ride in the boat whilst it is on the trailer.

Police will ping you for all these infractions.

I was under the impression that seat belts did not have to be worn when REVERSING, please clarify.

[Hoyks]

Nope, don't need one in reverse.

AUSTRALIAN ROAD RULES - REG 264

264—Wearing of seatbelts by drivers

        (1)         The driver of a motor vehicle that is moving, or is stationary but not parked, must comply with this rule if the driver's seating position is fitted with an approved seatbelt.

Offence provision.

Note—

"Driver" is defined in rule 16

, and "approved seatbelt", "motor vehicle" and "park" are defined in the dictionary.

        (2)         The driver must wear the seatbelt properly adjusted and fastened unless the driver is—

            (a)         reversing the vehicle; or

            (b)         exempt from wearing a seatbelt under rule 267

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/consol_reg/arr210/s264.html

[Pete79]

Finally, if you own a boat, Check the damn motor and fuel BEFORE you get to the ramp.
A few min starting it up and running it at home will save you hours of trouble, and for a few bucks STABIL fuel additive will prevent fuel going off and leaving you stranded

I met that guy this morning....
Tinny has been sitting in the shed for 3 years. This year it was time to take it away for the family Christmas fishing trip, daughter suggests that considering it hasn't been started in 3 years they should give it a run at camp before launching it. Nah!! Just hook it up and throw it in the creek, she'll be right.....

They take off and run with the tide until it coughs and farts and dies. Then drift for another km or so further away while frantically trying to get it going again.
Daughter was not happy by the time they had paddled it against the tide all the way back to the ramp.





Oh, and apparently I'm no saint either.
Little miss 7yr old safety officer gave me a right talking to about driving fast with the kids in the boat and no safety lanyard on my wrist earlier today. "What if you fall out? I can't drive, I'm only 7 you know!"  Can't argue with that, no matter how perfect the boating conditions where in the creek....

[Cruiser 105Tvan]

Don't ya hate it when the kids gang up on ya.
Was Mum in the background, with a big grin on her face?

[Jeepers Creepers]

Which creek Pete?

[Pete79]

Don't ya hate it when the kids gang up on ya.
Was Mum in the background, with a big grin on her face?

Haha, yes she was.

Which creek Pete?

Baffle Creek mate.

[stabicraft]

Please don't get me wrong.

Not all boaters are idiots, there are a few genuine guys out there.
Sometime things just happen, like the guy the other day.
Brand new boat, 20 plus years of boating experience, set up with every possible safety device.
And the damn thing cracks and starts leaking like a politicians promise.
At least he had a radio and we got to him easy.

From our stats, it seems an engine is more likely to break down immediately after servicing than just about any other time.
So when you get your boat serviced, take it easy until you are sure its running perfect.

Another common issue is running out of fuel.
I can understand this a bit, after all, at 5-10 knots a boat will use about 1/4 of the fuel it uses at full song.
In my boat at 10 knots it uses about 8-9 l/hr, but at 40 knots it drinks 36 l/hr.

Some boaters don't take these figures into account and find themselves dry quite quickly.

My main beef is sailing boats, especially the big ones.
Just because you have a huge sailing boat does not mean you are exempt from the boating rules.
Yes, power boats have to give way, most times, but if our rescue vessel is under lights and towing a huge cruiser, you can give way and allow us to pass safely so that we don't have to stop, risking the towed boat ramming us.
Changing tack so that you can enforce your right of way is just rude and stupid.

I also understand Forster, I go there every year.
Its madness at Christmas time, I sometimes think the boaters leave their brains in the car.
Those huge sports cruisers sloughing through the water at sub planning speed kick up a huge wake.
I have seen more tha one small tinny nearly come to grief thanks to these ignorant individuals.

[Fizzie]

Another common issue is running out of fuel.
I can understand this a bit, after all, at 5-10 knots a boat will use about 1/4 of the fuel it uses at full song.
In my boat at 10 knots it uses about 8-9 l/hr, but at 40 knots it drinks 36 l/hr.

Some boaters don't take these figures into account and find themselves dry quite quickly.

Got to agree there.

While back we stopped at servo to refuel our Rescue boat. Bloke pulled in with his boat to the other side of the bowser at same time & started refueling. While doing so, his mate also stopped at the servo & came over for a chat.

So, what'd you do today?

Went out through Tweed, (glug, glug as the fuel went in) trolled down around Cook Island, (glug, glug) out to the 9 Mile for a while (glug, glug), up to the 36'ers off Palm Beach (glug, glug) then trolled our way home (glug, finished). I had a look & he'd put 196l into his tank. His mate "Wow, that took a bit, what's she hold?" "200" 

So he'd made it back to the ramp with 4l left in his tank. All he'd have needed was to catch an extra 10kg of fish, have as little as a 10kph head wind come up, come back in fighting an outgoing tide & he wouldn't have made it back in! 

They're the ones that worry you 

[GBC]

Please don't get me wrong.



My main beef is sailing boats, especially the big ones.
Just because you have a huge sailing boat does not mean you are exempt from the boating rules.
Yes, power boats have to give way, most times, but if our rescue vessel is under lights and towing a huge cruiser, you can give way and allow us to pass safely so that we don't have to stop, risking the towed boat ramming us.
Changing tack so that you can enforce your right of way is just rude and stupid.

I also understand Forster, I go there every year.
Its madness at Christmas time, I sometimes think the boaters leave their brains in the car.
Those huge sports cruisers sloughing through the water at sub planning speed kick up a huge wake.
I have seen more tha one small tinny nearly come to grief thanks to these ignorant individuals.

Are you under just towing lights or restricted lights? If you are in fact restricted and showing so, you should stand on?

[stabicraft]

Are you under just towing lights or restricted lights? If you are in fact restricted and showing so, you should stand on?

We were actually under strobes.
The boat we were towing was sinking and we needed to get it into shallow water so it could sink onto sand to save it as little damage as possible.

But regardless, a little consideration would have been nice.
Id like to think he will need us one day, perhaps we will have to give way to everyone.

Power boats seem to be much more considerate.
Possibly because you have to have a licence to drive a power boat.
Whereas sail boats can be sailed by any individual who has the cash to buy one.
Cashed up does not necessarily mean smart or considerate, but generally mutually exclusive

[Jeepers Creepers]

I always found the sail boats while chasing the wind,  will just wander around like brown's cows.
We'd be cruising at around 26 knots and you'd make a change to suit them, to have them change back again. (The idiots)

On the fuel thing, (I hate idiots who run out of fuel) we were heading out once and I thought, bloody fuel gauge must be on the way out.
I had completely forgotten about the previous had used a 100 litres and hadn't been topped up yet. 
(I would always budget for a good 60 to 80 litres in the tank at any  trips end)
Long/short story, Shitting myself as we came back in, wife ready to release anchor chain safety clip on my command of "NOW"

We made it to the fuel berth, and put 289 litres into a 280 litre tank. 
The filler hose alone, would've held 10 to 12 litres I reckon, but if that fuel berth was another 50 metres away, we were over the fence, six and OUT.

From that day on, i kept a fuel logbook, budgeted for 50l/hour and never did it again. 

[Rocky and Bullwinkle]

We made it to the fuel berth, and put 289 litres into a 280 litre tank. 
The filler hose alone, would've held 10 to 12 litres I reckon, but if that fuel berth was another 50 metres away, we were over the fence, six and OUT.

The rule in Victoria is  a third out, a third back and a third as a reserve.  It seems a simple to follow rule and when in salt water I always comply.

Greg

[Rocky and Bullwinkle]

So it's OK to take your boat off the trailer without wearing a jacket, but:

? All personal watercraft – operators and passengers to wear a PFD at all times while underway.

Mate of mine got a warning a few years ago for not wearing a jacket on his jetski - he backed it off the trailer & brought it straight back onto the beach 5 m's away without a jacket on, but wateries were there & warned him - said that if he'd looped out away from the bank then beached they would have fined him on the spot 

Totally agree with the various comments about enforcing rules though - as Stabi said, we in VMR have seen it all!   
[/quote]

They were being a bit over the top, but I went to a drowning on a lake a few years ago, one person out for a days fishing launched his boat. Went to park his car and trailer, boat drifted out, tried to swim after it drowned. Another person found the boat and brought it back to shore. Full of fishing rods esky's but I did not see any PFD's if he had been wearing one even though it was a calm small lake he would still be alive!!!!!!

Greg

[Troopy_03]

Running out of fuel in a boat... yep can be a problem... But we've had aeroplanes run out of fuel taxying back to the hard stand.. and not the type that glide...

Worst we had, many years ago, was stripping a top spline on an old Chrysler O.B, when we were heading out to the shelf off Eden. Luckily it is only about 8km out from there, and we were about 6km out when it happened. Lucky my young bloke, 14 at the time, was pretty fit and rowed almost the whole way back, then jogged 4km back to the caravan park to get mum to bring the trailer down. I was knackered just watching him..