When you’re planning your emergency preparedness consider:

* Who at the marina could be impacted by any of the emergencies you want to be ready to face?

* What impact could each kind of emergency have on your marina and its operations? Consider not just staff, but risks to your equipment, buildings, docks, and to the boats and belongings of your clients.

* Which resources are essential to your emergency response plan for each emergency situation? This should include your staff (managerial and other employees), local and government resources, existing plans, and perhaps even outside help from other agencies.

* Gather the contact information you would require, including after-hours and emergency contact details (like your marina insurance policy number and your marine business insurance company), so that you have everything you would need at your fingertips when faced with an emergency.

Potential emergencies marinas should be prepared for include:

*    Fire
*    Medical emergencies
*    People in the water – near drownings and drownings
*    Capsized, damaged boats or boats that have sunk
*    Sadly, in today’s world, acts of domestic or international terrorism
*    Storms, with special care for the types of storms typical to your region (i.e., hurricanes or tornadoes, floods, heavy snow and ice, earthquakes)

You will want to sure you make the time to create a comprehensive plan for dealing with a variety of emergency situations.  If you currently have one in place, then take the time to review it with your staff at least annually.

Backfire flame control is sn effective means of controlling backfire flame of all gasoline engines installed after April 25, 1940, except outboard motors.  Backfire flame arrestors must be USCG approved.

Does your marine business insurance cover you for environmental insurance claims? Is it adequate?

Marine business owners and operators need to be mindful of a wide variety of potential pollutants that could wreak havoc on marinas and shipyards or cost into millions of dollars in liability.

When you work in marine business insurance and process claims, you see countless ways that marinas and shipyards can be exposed to environmental risk either by accident or on purpose. There are circumstances where hazardous chemicals spill as people load or unload their boats – or times when tenants or other parties knowingly dump pollutants ranging from fuel to waste or other products.

Storage tanks rupture, equipment corrodes and fails, and cleaning and weed control chemicals are spilled. Vandals cause damage that negatively impacts the environment. Asbestos or mold are discovered in old buildings. Natural disasters strike.

Resources like spill control plans and comprehensive marine business insurance are essential to protect your business.

When you review your policy with a marine business insurance specialist, you will want to ensure that you are protected for various situations. These might include:

• Property damage
• Testing, excavation and removal of hazards or contaminants
• Remediation and disposal of hazardous waste
• Clean up costs
• Third-party bodily injury
• Liability, for instance, impact on neighboring businesses and tenants if their business is interrupted and property damaged
• Unknowingly increasing the extent of contamination

When you have comprehensive marine business insurance, there are benefits to having environmental liability insurance. In addition to defense costs and third party liability, you will have a marine business insurance specialist to help you with your claim.

Sound producing devices include bell, horn, whistle etc.  Every vessel less than 12 meters (39.4 ft.) in length must carry an efficient sound-producing device. The sound-producing device need not meet any particular specifications, as long as the vessel can produce signals required by the navigational rules.

Visual distress signal is required on the high sea and coastal waters only. You must carry visual distress signals for night-time use.

NOTE: Coastal waters means the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and all bays, sounds, harbors, rivers, inlets, etc. where any entrance is over 2 miles wide to the first point where the distance between shorelines narrows to 2 miles.

Orlando, FLA (March 23, 2016) – Nautique announces the Nautique WWA Wakeboard World Championships to be held at Toronto Canada’s CNE Waterfront on August 25-28 during the Canadian National Exhibition.

The Canadian National Exhibition is held annually at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada over eighteen days concluding on Canadian Labor Day. The 2016 CNE will take place on August 21st – September 7th and is the largest annual fair in Canada, standing as the fifth largest in North America. Approximately 1.5 million visitors attend each year to enjoy shows and attractions promoting and celebrating Canada’s growth as a nation.

One USCG-approved B-1 type fire extinguisher is required for all recreational motorboats except outboard-powered motorboats less than 26 feet long if constructed in a manner that will not allow gas fumes to accumulate. If your boat has a built-in fuel tank, an inboard engine, compartments where portable fuel tanks may be stored, or open areas between the hull and deck where flammable or explosive gases could accumulate, you must carry a fire extinguisher. Non-motorized boats are exempt from the fire extinguisher requirements.

NOTE: When an approved fixed fire extinguishing system is installed in the machinery space(s), it may be counted in the place of one B-I type hand-held portable fire extinguisher. Some fire extinguishers require specific mounting brackets for approval. Read the label on your fire extinguisher for this information.

Personal Flotation Devices or (PFDs) One approved Type I, II or III must be provided for each person on board or being towed on water skis etc. They must be USCG-approved, be in serviceable condition and be properly stored.

A Type V hybrid may substituted for any Type I, II, or III device, but must be worn whenever the vessel is underway and the person is not in the cabin or other enclosed area.

Class A: Every person on board under the age of 6 must wear an approved Type I, II, or III while the vessel is underway.

Personal Watercraft (PWC): Everyone on or operating a PWC must wear an approved Type I, II, III or V PFD. Inflatable PFDs are prohibited.

Water Skier: Every person skiing or aquaplaning must wear an approved Type I, II or III PFD. Inflatable PFDs are prohibited.

The below is a list of the minimum required safety equipment for Class A recreational vessels: (less than 16 ft / less than 4.9m) or canoes and kayaks

* Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs)
* Fire Extinguisher
* Visual Distress Signal (Required on the high sea and coastal waters only)
* Sound-producing Device
* Backfire Flame Control
* Ventilation
* Vessel Lighting

A Navy tugboat that disappeared after it sailed from San Francisco in 1921 has been found by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers in shark-infested waters about 30 miles west of San Francisco, putting an end to a 95-year-old mystery.

Weather logs indicate that soon after leaving California, the tugboat hit high winds and rough seas. A garbled radio transmission relayed later by another ship stated that the tug was “battling a storm and that the barge she was towing had been torn adrift by heavy seas.”

The tugboat, the U.S.S. Conestoga, left California with 56 officers and crew members on board, bound for Tutuila, American Samoa, by way of Hawaii. When the ship failed to arrive, the Navy carried out an expansive air and sea search, but only a battered lifeboat with the letter “C”  Researchers said they believed that the boat had sunk as the crew members tried to reach a protected cove on the Farallons.

California does not require the installation of a kill switch on personal watercraft or any other vessels used in the state. However, on vessels equipped by the manufacturer with a lanyard, California law does require the operator to use it by attaching the lanyard to his or her person, clothing, or personal flotation device, as appropriate for the specific vessel.  (Reference: Section 65537(a) of the California Harbors and Navigation Code)