You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
Aug 5, 2025
With the August 1st long weekend behind us, summer 2025 is in high gear and people all across Canada are on vacation and out on the water. This is the perfect time for us as Canada’s marine industry, to remind our customers of some simple things about being around the water and boating. Remember that often, people don’t know what they don’t know. And even then, they may not be thinking about the bigger picture as they are happily going along in a boat.
Last week two children were killed in Miami when their Miami Yacht Club sailing school boat sailed out in front of a moving barge. The barge clearly would have had the right of way as that vessel was not able to stop or maneuver, and the sailing school instructor who was on board with the children should have known to stay out of the way of commercial shipping. There is video of course. Everything is on video these days.
Could an autonomous system or warning of some kind have prevented the collision? We don’t know at this point but we should remind our customers that everyone operating a vessel has a duty to avoid a collision. Any issues of right of way are secondary.
We assume the barge had a horn or other “sound signaling” device. The adult on board the sailing school vessel had a duty to maintain a watch and to avoid the collision. A small sailing dinghy is actually a very maneuverable vessel and it should have been easy to spot the very large barge and to steer clear. But they didn’t.
A concern I have is the rise of autonomous navigation systems on larger pleasure craft that could result in complacency – giving the captains and passengers, the expectation that the boat will “do the right thing” to protect them. I’ve recently seen some amazing new electronic systems that can add greatly to boating safety but for now, I still feel that we need to recognize the importance of the captain and their responsibilities.
Operating a boat, especially in a busy waterway like Biscayne Bay in Miami should require special training and skills. But, I have to think that the Miami Yacht Club would have only given that responsibility to a trained adult – someone who should have known better than to sail out in front of the moving barge.
Over the past few editions of Boating Industry Canada News Week Digest, we have run an article describing six new boating mini-courses offered by CanBoat. At industry events like the big boat shows and conferences like the Boating BC or the Boating Ontario conferences, we talk about how to attract more boaters and how to help new boaters to advance in their skills.
These CanBoat / CPS mini-courses are a perfect thing to recommend to your customers, especially those newer to boating. The courses are:
- Docking with Confidence
- Aids to Navigation
- Avoiding Collisions
- Anchoring with Confidence
- Boating in Tidal Waters
- Knots and Lines
As professionals in boating, our customers look to us for guidance in their own skills development and these courses are a great way to help bring boaters along. The Miami boating fatalities are a deeply sad reminder that it’s very much in our best interest to stop and talk about boating with our customers.
This is the perfect time to have those quick little conversations when everyone is thinking about going out boating. Here is the link to the new CanBoat Mini-Courses
We hope you are having a great season and that the business continues to be strong for you!
Andy Adams – Editor
