Studies reveal that often boating accidents are not due to poor boating skills but instead to the operator’s thought patterns. Coast Guard studies regarding its own accidents show that even though the person in command possessed boating skills, certain though patterns had a profound effect on their judgment in high stress situations and during the decision-making process.

Do recreational boaters display these same hazardous thought patterns on our waters? Well, to answer the question, let’s look at what these hazardous thought patterns are and let you be the judge.

Anti-Authority:This is the thought pattern of people who resent being told what to do, especially by other people, or through rules and regulations. Their behavior is often contrary to their own better judgment because they do what they want regardless. The Anti-Authority type especially enjoys bucking the system just for the sake of it. Could it be the Anti-Authority types we find roaring down congested channels, flashing through swim areas, and ignoring wake zones?

When they get smacked with enough citations and subsequent fines they might just begin to realize there is another world out there besides their own. But lets also hope they are not the impulsive type either.

Impulsiveness: This is the thought pattern of people who frequently feel the need to do something, anything- immediately. Often, they do not think before they act; they do the first thing that comes to mind as long as it is something. Problem, it’s often the wrong thing. If someone aboard their boat falls overboard, they leap in after the person, not stopping to consider throwing a life ring or notifying other boaters in the area. This same impulsive person might fire off all their flares at once before assessing the situation. With impulsive people you hope there’s someone aboard who will ensure they stop and look at the situation and check the alternatives available to them. You especially hope this is the case if you’re the person in the water whom they are now racing toward at full throttle to retrieve. Hopefully you are a good diver or invulnerable.

Invulnerability: Many people, in fact most people, feel that accidents happen only to others. Sadly this hazardous thought pattern does not result from an over-estimation of a person’s capabilities, but instead a denial of the risks involved. The thought process of this type is to deny the risk, not because they question their skills, but because they simple don’t believe it will happen to them.

This thought pattern could well explain why a great deal of recreational boating fatalities occur in small non-threatening bodies of water and under mild weather conditions. I firmly believe the moment when you drop your guard is the moment you should be most on guard. Unless you possess gills, caution should always be the order of the day when around water. Wearing a life jacket will certainly add to your invulnerability. That is, of course, unless you are the macho type who views life jackets as the wimp garb, or any other restraint that might threaten their macho delusions of self grandeur

Macho: These people are always trying to prove that they are better than anyone else by taking risks while trying to impress others. This thought pattern differs from the invulnerability mind set in that the macho person may overestimate their personal capabilities and those of their equipment. Often to prove them selves, they push beyond the "envelope". Many boating accidents evolving high-speed collisions can be traced to the macho mind set. I wonder how macho these types would be if they had to pick up the body parts during a macho aftermath. If a person must prove their worth to themselves by macho behavior, fine, but please do it on your own away from others. Now that’s being macho.

Resignation: Far from the macho type are those people who leave the action to others- for better or for worse. The objective of the person in Resignation is to deny responsibility. They simply feel others are responsible for their actions and in control of what they do. Being passive on a boat can be deadly. Every person should know where the safety equipment is located and how to use it. They shouldn’t wait for direction because if the captain has ignored their safety needs in the first place they will probably be in the last person in his mind when things turn to worms.

Putting it all together, I would say that all of us, one way or another have been carriers of one or more of these thought patterns. A sure remedy- Be cool, Boat Smart.