Helpful Boating Hints

The Marina at Marina Shores offers boating safety classes. Classes are FREE for members!

For more information call 757.496.7000.

• Remember that life jackets and safety harnesses are essential and should be provided for everyone on board. VA State Law requires each person on board to have a properly-fitted U.S. Coast Guard-approved serviceable life jacket.   Boats longer than 16 feet must have a Type IV or throwable PFD.

• Never tie your boat up to buoys or other navigation aids. It’s dangerous, and it’s illegal.

• Remember to carry a first aid kit, in-date day and night distress flares.   Always have an alternative means of propulsion (such as a set of oars or a small auxiliary outboard). In any sort of emergency, call the Coast Guard on VHF channel 16.

• Make sure that someone else on board knows the basic operation and systems of your boat. In the event of your being disabled as skipper, it might make the difference between life and death if someone else can get the boat to shore and operate the radio.

• When planning a trip or day on the water, use the “1/3” rule for fuel consumption. Plan your trip so that you calculate fuel usage of 1/3 out and 1/3 back. This will leave you 1/3 of a tank in reserve for those times when wind, waves, or drift make your running time longer than expected.  Make sure to visit the full service fuel dock at The Marina at Marina Shores if you have any questions.

• Your lines should be dry, neatly coiled, and kept out of the sun when not in use. You will find the life and integrity of the lines will be extended greatly if you take care of them.

• Be sure and warn everybody on board when approaching another boat’s wake. Passengers who are unaware of the impending shock of a wake may be thrown into windshields or other fixtures on the boat, may fall, or may be thrown overboard.

• Never use drugs or alcohol before or during boat operation. The effects of alcohol are greatly exaggerated by exposure to sun, glare, wind, noise, and vibration.

• Before you approach a pier, make certain that everybody on board knows what they are supposed to do.

• A good boater approaches a dock or slip at clutch speed and in full control regardless of wind or current conditions. Running up to a pier at half throttle, and slamming the engine in reverse to stop is a sign of poor boat handling skills.