Rowing constitutes a. very small part of recreational boating and the proportion of rowing accidents is correspondingly small. They rarely appear in the US Coast Guard annual report* on boating accidents. Nonetheless, the report is relevant to rowers.
In 2019 the USCG reported more than 4,000 recreational boating accidents and 613 fatalities. This was a slight decrease from the 2018 fatality rate and continued the twenty year trend towards safer boating. Approximately 80% of the fatalities drowned and of those that drowned 86% were not wearing PFDs. Those numbers have been relatively consistent over the years.
Of particular interest to rowers — apart from the proven value of PFDs in preventing drownings — should be the leading factors contributing to fatal boating accidents: alcohol use, operator inattention, improper lookouts, operator inexperience, and excessive speed. Rowers have no control over boaters who have been drinking, aren’t paying attention, or don’t know what they’re doing. And they should be aware that most states have little if any requirements for motor boat operators. Few states require training and certification.
Also of interest to rowers should be the report’s table of accidents by time of day: it shows that the percentage of fatal accidents that occur during prime rowing times are essentially the same as any other time of day. In fact, it is slightly higher between 4:30 and 8:30 a.m. and between 4:30 and 8:30 p.m. than it is during the middle of the day; between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.***
Last year there were almost twelve million registered recreational boaters in the US and, where data was known,
- “the most common vessel types involved in reported accidents were open motorboats (47%), personal watercraft (18%), and cabin motorboats (15%);
- (and) “the vessel types with the highest percentage of deaths were open motorboats (47%), kayaks (13%), and canoes (9%).”**
[A summary of licensing requirements is being prepared on a separate page].
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*2019 Recreational Boating Statistics, COMDTPUB P16754.33, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety.
** American Boating, from National Association of State Boating Law Administrators; https://americanboating.org/boating_fatality.asp
*** op cit; 2019 Recreational Boating Statistics
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