Personal Watercraft Safety Course

C ontents Personal Safety

1 Safety Equipment 2 Life Jackets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Learn to Swim and Float . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Factors that Can Affect Your Judgment, Health and Safety . . . . . 5 Noise Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Heat Exhaustion 7 Cold Water Shock/Immersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Stages of Cold Water Shock and Critical Responses . . . . . . . . 8 Post-Rescue Collapse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 First Aid Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Alcohol and Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Boat Safety 11 Anatomy of a PWC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Main components of a PWC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Legal Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Boater Card 14 Hull Identification Numbers (HIN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Restrictions Applying to PWC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Safety Mechanisms 17 Operating A PWC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Water Safety 21 Navigational Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 PWC Rules of the Road 23 Accident Prevention and Rescue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Causes of Accidents and Injuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Dangerous Moves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Casting Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Returning to Shore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Navigational Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Towing a Water Skier behind a PWC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Bad Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Environmental Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Conclusion 33