Boating education saves lives on the water. With the knowledge you’ll gain from an online course like BOATsmart!, you can act quickly if something goes wrong while boating.
Or, better yet, you know how to prevent potential boating accidents and injuries by operating vessels safely, wearing life jackets, and having the necessary safety equipment on board to keep your passengers safe.
So, how does a boating education course actually help? Today, we share a real-life, unedited story of how the BOATsmart! program helped a young family.
A Family’s Boating Education Story
Here’s the story we received from a BOATsmart! Student!
Hi BOATsmart,
My husband and I recently took your exam because we had just bought our first boat — a 23-foot wake surfer. We took this boat out for the first time on a recent Saturday.
After being in the water for about one hour in the middle of Christina Lake, BC’s north end, we noticed something was wrong. The boat seemed to be taking on water — and not because we forgot to put the plugs in. There was way too much water.
We decided to head back. Since there was no beach around, we stuck relatively close to shore, but the water problem got worse. The back of the boat was dragging badly.
We flagged down a boat that came to our aid, passed off our 4-year-old son, and continued on with the other boat nearby.
I hauled out the hand pump bilge (as the boat one wasn’t working) and started pumping while my husband drove. I was able to keep ahead of the incoming water in the engine compartment, and we managed to get to shore safely.
Nothing was lost, although our boat mechanic has much work ahead.
What I want to thank you for is that we stayed calm and had all the right tools on board our boat because of your course. The hand bilge pump saved our boat — an item we would not have likely had on hand before taking the BOATsmart! exam.
Please feel free to use my email and comments. Once again, thank you for the information you taught us in your material. It saved our boat and our sanity.
Sincerely,
Michelle
Be BOATsmart! Safe Like This Family
This is just one example of how taking a boater safety course — specifically the BOATsmart! course — prepares you to avoid bad situations while on the water. This family had the confidence and the equipment they needed to get home safely when things started going wrong.
Before heading out on the water next time, make sure you know what to do if something goes wrong and how to prepare yourself and your boat for anything on the water. In Canada, take our course for Canadians. If you boat in the U.S., choose the course for your state, start learning, and get your boater education card.
Then, boat safely!
First published in February 2012. Content most recently reviewed and updated for relevancy and recency October 25, 2024.
