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WSF Applauds DICK’S Paddling Safety Initiative

Retailer joins nonprofits and state agencies to promote kayaking and paddleboarding safety ORLANDO, FL, UNITED STATES, October 22, 2024 — The Water Sports Foundation, a recreational boating safety advocacy group, is coordinating a paddling safety effort including state agencies, nonprofits and retailer DICK’S Sporting Goods. The initiative seeks to engage large sporting goods chains and warehouse […]

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One-In-A-Million Ghost Boat Rescue

The quick thinking and extraordinary luck that brought a North Carolina fisherman back from the brink. Andrew Sherman and his son Jack were fishing 37 miles off the North Carolina coast when they spotted a boat coming straight at them. Andrew directed a few choice words toward the 23-foot Parker cuddy cabin rumbling along on […]

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License-free image A young girl with an excited smile holds a fishing pole. She is wearing a life vest and is on a boat. Another person, also in a life vest, is taking her photo. The background is a blurred water scene.

When A Life Jacket Is Not a Life Jacket

Ordering a kid’s life jacket online is no guarantee you’ll get a U.S. Coast Guard approved device that will protect your child Looking forward to another season of boating with her young family, Allie Wojciak went online and bought a new life jacket for her son. At least, she thought she did. Wojciak typed “toddler […]

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ACA’s Largest-Ever Training Event

On May 18, in what may have been the largest ACA led safety training event in ACA history, the ACA Regional Activity Council rallied the paddlesports community across seven states to train 471 people in one day to kick off National Safe Boating Week. This year marked a significant expansion of an already successful volunteer-led […]

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Record Decline In Boating Fatalities Has Glaring Exception

ORLANDO, FL – The Coast Guard last week reported the largest year-over-year drop in recreational boating fatalities in more than a decade, but that encouraging news was tempered by an increase in paddling deaths. According to the agency’s Recreational Boating Safety Statistics for 2023, overall boating fatalities fell a whopping 11.3 percent, from 636 in […]

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Heroic Boating Rescue

Sgt. Brian Parkton knew the situation could turn bad in a heartbeat. The veteran marine patrol officer was responding to reports of a boat in trouble with nine people, including three children, still on board. The 21-foot open motorboat had filled with water and lost power at the mouth of Destin Pass, a northwest Florida […]

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Holiday Boating Tips

Throughout the country, boaters are expected to cruise to popular gathering spots this Fourth of July weekend with friends and family, with plans to raft up, drop anchor and swim, enjoy barbeques and cap off festivities with spectacular fireworks celebrations.

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Life Jacket Law For Paddlers

PROVIDENCE, RI – For paddlers in Rhode Island, wearing a life jacket is no longer a choice. It’s the law. The mandatory life jacket rule is one of five new safety regulations that went into effect on April 2, 2023, according to an announcement by the state’s Department of Environmental Management (DEM). The new life […]

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New Life Jacket Label Guide

A guide to the new life jacket label, including Performance Level, Turn Ability and Warning Symbols.

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