With Memorial Day behind us, the summer season is drawing thousands of Arkansans and their houseboats, sailboats and personal watercraft to the state's lakes and rivers.
Members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary want to make sure the waterways of Arkansas remain safe playgrounds for residents and visitors.
"We're the volunteer arm of the active-duty United States Coast Guard," said Richard Kelley, commander of Flotilla 15-07 of the Coast Guard Auxiliary headquartered in Hot Springs. "We doeverything the military arm does except law enforcement."
Starting in the spring, the more than 20 members of the Hot Springs flotilla begin training classes for all ages about safety on the water. Conducting classes in the cities around the area and at National Park Community College in Hot Springs, the auxiliary teaches the importance of keeping the right safety equipment aboard the private boats that populate lakes Hamilton, Ouachita and DeGray in the Tri-Lakes region.
"We taught more than 300 students about safe-boating operations at Lakeside MiddleSchool in the spring," Kelley said. "Under state law, anyone born after 1986 has to have a license to operate a boat. Someone caught without a license can be fined."
Each of the students not only received a school grade for the class; the students also received their state boating licenses. But that doesn't mean the 13-yearolds are going to be out on the lakes alone.
"We told them that they have a license, but finding someone who would let you take their boat out alone is not likely," said Janet Kelley, a flotilla staff officer and wife of the flotilla commander. "For now, this is more like a learner's permit."
Richard Kelley said the early months of the boating season are also the best time to make vessel inspections.
"We would like to be there the first time they get the boat in the water," he said. "The biggest problems we see on boats is when we go looking for the life jackets. We will find them under a case, still wrapped in the original plastic."
The commander said that is good for keeping a family's boat shipshape, but that the safety equipment needs to be available at a moment's notice in an emergency.
Bob Byrne, another member of the Hot Springs flotilla, said boaters often complain about the vests being bulky and uncomfortable. He displayed an example of a small vest that is no larger than having a small towel around the neck and hanging down to a person's waist.
"It is inflatable with the pull of a yellow tab," Byrne said. "It is good for general recreational boating, and we are recommending them for fishermen. Skiers and kayakers who are more active need a vest-type life preserver."
He said riders of personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis, need another type of vest, designed to stay on the user even if he impacts the water at 50 mph.
All life vests used by boaters must be a type approved by theU.S. Coast Guard. The auxiliary officers said boaters should look for the tag that shows USCG approval when they purchase the equipment.