After a powerboat ran up on the south bank of the Toms River and demolished a gazebo last weekend, state police charged the captain with operating a boat while intoxicated.

That story brought home a familiar danger to Matawan sailor Donald E. Baker.

“I love to sail at night, because the wind’s steadier and it’s so beautiful,” said Baker, a boating safety educator with the Raritan Bay Power Squadron, who sails his 34-foot sloop on the Toms River. “But I won’t do it on a moonless night. A lot of these accidents happen at night.”

The small buoys and channel markers of the Toms River are too easy to miss in total darkness — and there is the danger of impaired boaters making their way to port. It’s a danger boating educators stress in the safety classes that are mandatory for all New Jersey boaters.

“After just four or five hours on the water, you’re already impaired from the fatigue effects of the sun, wave motion, the heat,” Baker said. That intensifies the physical effects of even one or two drinks, he said: “If you’re going to have a drink, wait until you get back to the dock.”

New Jersey began to tackle the problem of alcohol-related boat accidents during the recreational boating boom of the 1990s. Today, offenders are treated just like drunken drivers are on land, including the potential loss of all boat and automobile operating privileges for six months.

As the summer boating season enters full swing, other states are moving to curtail the peril on the water this weekend with “Operation Dry Water,” an annual enforcement exercise between the U.S. Coast Guard and state law enforcement agencies. Last year, there were 322 arrests during the operation.

Mandatory safety education programs like New Jersey’s have dramatically reduced boating accidents and fatalities over the last two decades. But alcohol remains the leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents involving the America’s 12.4 million registered boats, the Coast Guard says. There were 126 fatalities and 293 injuries in 330 alcohol-related boating accidents in the U.S. in 2010.

New Jersey saw two fatal boating accidents that involved alcohol in 2010, the highest number since four deaths in 2006, according to the annual Coast Guard tally of recreational boating accidents.

“It’s starting to get recognized that boating while intoxicated is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated,” says Lt. Cody Jones, a game warden for the marine enforcement section of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

“You’re in a 1-ton vehicle, but this vehicle doesn’t have brakes, and there’s no lane of traffic or stop sign to direct you.”

He and other experts say that many recreational boaters don’t realize that stress factors associated with boating — such as heat, direct sunlight, vibration, wind and noise — magnify the effects of alcohol.

“Alcohol has more of an impact out there,” says Maj. Chris Huebner, North Carolina’s state boating safety coordinator. “It can take as little as one-third the alcohol on the water as on land to be impaired.”

The Lexington, Ky.-based National Association of State Boating Law Administrators is pushing for a national marine field sobriety test standard that would enable patrol officers to test boaters while they’re seated.

Summer Thunder Storms

Beyond a certain age, nothing stops fun on the water better than unexpected soakings, suddenly violent waves, or any activity that can lead to a serious risk of falling out of the boat. And few events can end a good time on the water as precipitously as being hit by lightning.

These are all summertime risks, but they can vary greatly in degree of probability depending on your knowledge of – and respect for – the weather.

There may have been a time, way back before Odysseus, when ignorance of the elements was an excuse for mishap or disaster. But incredible modern-day refinements in satellite-based forecasting and communications technology have removed the last traces of an alibi for being caught on the water unawares. These days, if you didn’t know what to expect it was because you didn’t ask – or you just didn’t take the time to learn.

Ask where? Learn what?

The Weather Channel is a good place to start. Along with its local forecasts, it provides good radar tracking, notification of small craft advisories, and other pertinent information that boater’s can use. In most coastal areas, VHF broadcasts provide accurate, timely, local marine data on wind direction and speed, temperature, wave height, tides, and special advisories of both long-term and sudden changes. In the summertime, this service includes notification of current thunderstorm activity along with estimates of its future probability. In addition, with direct downloads from weather-mapping satellites, along with your VHF radio, CBs, ship-to-shore, portable AM-FM radios and cellular telephones, you’re only a moment away from everything you should ever need to know.

And that’s not all. For the technology-deficient, toy-deprived or electronically unprepared, there is another reliable resource in the form of accumulated lore and common sense. Since thunderstorms usually travel from west to east, boaters should keep an eye on the western sky. Calm usually does precede a storm, so can a mackerel sky. And yes, red skies at morning are a sailor’s warning.

If you don’t have a phone, can’t hear the crackling on the AM radio and there is haze in the path of the roiling clouds, one of the best indicators of increased electrical activity in the area is still the hair on your forearms or on the back of your neck: when it starts to rise, it’s well past time to get moving.

You say you shave your arms and there isn’t enough hair left on your head to throw a shadow? Well, when caught in foul weather, you should immediately put on your life jacket, reduce the speed of the boat and head for the nearest lee shore or safe harbor. Point the bow at a slight angle into the waves, keeping your passengers low and near the midship point to reduce the risk of battering from the seesaw motion of the boat.

If the engine fails, anchor by the bow or, in deep water, deploy a sea anchor (anything that will slow your drift with underwater drag, such as a bucket or an empty bait box) from the stern.

Prayer is permitted. Learn from the experience.

LIFE JACKET WEAR / WEARING YOUR LIFE JACKET

Boaters enjoy the feel of sun and spray. So it’s tempting to boat without wearing a life jacket – especially on nice days. But modern life jackets are available in a wide variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. Many are thin and flexible. Some are built right into fishing vests or hunter coats. Others are inflatable — as compact as a scarf or fanny pack until they hit water, when they automatically fill with air.

There’s no excuse not to wear a life jacket on the water!

How to Choose the Right Life Jacket Brochure – PDF

Things to Know:

• Certain life jackets are designed to keep your head above water and help you remain in a position which permits proper breathing.
• To meet U.S. Coast Guard requirements, a boat must have a U.S. Coast Guard-approved Type I, II, III, or V life jacket for each person aboard. Boats 16 feet and over must have at least one Type IV throwable device as well.

• All states have regulations regarding life jacket wear by children.
• Adult-sized life jackets will not work for children. Special life jackets are available. To work correctly, a life jacket must be worn, fit snugly, and not allow the child’s chin or ears to slip through.

• Life jackets should be tested for wear and buoyancy at least once each year. Waterlogged, faded, or leaky jackets should be discarded.
• Life jackets must be properly stowed.
• A life jacket — especially a snug-fitting flotation coat or deck-suit style — can help you survive in cold water.

How Do Life Jackets Save Lives?

• When capsized in rough water.
• When sinking in unexpectedly heavy sea conditions.
• When thrown from the boat as a result of a collision.
• When injured by rocks or submerged objects.
• When unconscious from carbon monoxide fumes.
• When tossed into freezing water.
• When thrown off balance while fishing.
• When unable to swim because of heavy or waterlogged clothing.

All recreational boats must carry one wearable lifejacket (Type I, II, III or Type V lifejacket) for each person aboard. A Type V lifejacket provides performance of either a Type I, II, or III lifejacket (as marked on its label) and must be used according to the label requirements. Any boat 16ft and longer (except canoes and kayaks) must also carry one throwable lifejacket (Type IV lifejacket).

Lifejackets must be

• Coast Guard approved,
• in good and serviceable condition, and
• the appropriate size for the intended user.

Accessibility

• Wearable lifejackets must be readily accessible.
• You must be able to put them on in a reasonable amount of time in an emergency (vessel sinking, on fire, etc.).
• They should not be stowed in plastic bags, in locked or closed compartments or have other gear stowed on top of them.
• The best lifejacket is the one you will wear.
• Though not required, a lifejacket should be worn at all times when the vessel is underway. A wearable lifejacket can save your life, but only if you wear it.
• Throwable devices must be immediately available for use.

Inflatable Lifejackets

• Inflatable lifejackets may be more comfortable to wear.
• The best lifejacket is the one you will wear.
• Inflatable lifejackets require the user to pay careful attention to the condition of the device.
• Inflatable lifejackets must have a full cylinder and all status indicators on the inflator must be green, or the device is NOT serviceable, and does NOT satisfy the requirement to carry lifejackets.
• Coast Guard Approved Inflatable lifejacket’s are authorized for use on recreational boats by person at least 16 years of age.

Child Lifejacket Requirements

Some states require that children wear lifejackets

• applies to children of specific ages
• applies to certain sizes of boats
• applies to specific boating operations

Check with your state boating safety officials.

Child lifejacket approvals are based on the child’s weight. Check the “User Weight” on the label, or the approval statement that will read something like “Approved for use on recreational boats and uninspected commercial vessels not carrying passengers for hire, by persons weighing __ lbs”. They can be marked “less than 30″, “30 to 50″, “less than 50″, or “50 to 90″.

Lifejacket requirements for certain boating activities under state laws

The Coast Guard recommends and many states require wearing lifejackets:

• For water skiing and other towed activities (use a lifejacket marked for water skiing).
• While operating personal watercraft (PWC) (use a lifejacket marked for water skiing or PWC use).
• During white water boating activities.
• While sailboarding (under Federal law, sailboards are not “boats”).

Check with your state boating safety officials.

Federal law does not require lifejackets on racing shells, rowing sculls, racing canoes, and racing kayaks; state laws vary. Check with your state boating safety officials.

If you are boating in an area under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, or a federal, state, or local park authority, other rules may apply.

Lifejacket Flotation

There are three basic kinds of lifejacket flotation in the five types of lifejackets with the following characteristics:

Inherently Buoyant (primarily Foam)

• Adult, Youth, Child, and Infant sizes
• For swimmers & non-swimmers
• Wearable & throwable styles
• Some designed for water sports

Inflatable

• The most compact
• Sizes only for adults
• Only recommended for swimmers
• Wearable styles only
• Some with the best in-water performance

Hybrid (Foam & Inflation)

• Reliable
• Adult, Youth, and Child sizes
• For swimmers & non-swimmers
• Wearable styles only
• Some designed for water sports