Traverse City Coast Guard Auxiliary offers boating safety classes, urges life jackets

The most dangerous error on Grand Traverse-area water is still the simplest one: leaving the life jacket out of reach. Diane Walker, the Traverse City Coast Guard Auxiliary’s public education officer, said there were 88 drownings on the Great Lakes last year, and 90 percent of the people who drowned were not wearing life jackets.

That warning comes as the auxiliary pushes local boaters to get ready before the summer launch rush around West Grand Traverse Bay and inland lakes. The group is offering an 8-hour boater safety course for people age 12 and older, along with a navigation and GPS class for adults who want a better handle on safe operation and electronic tools on the water. Anyone who completes the full course and passes the test earns a boater safety certificate.

The timing matters because Michigan law requires a boater education card for boaters born after June 30, 1996, and for most personal watercraft operators. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says that card can be earned through classroom, online or interactive courses, giving boaters several ways to meet the requirement before they head out.

The state’s need for boating education is hard to miss. The Michigan DNR says Michigan has more than 1,000 public boat launches, 82 public harbors, 3,300 miles of Great Lakes shoreline and 11,000 inland lakes. It also says drowning is the cause of death in 76 percent of boating-related fatalities, and that 69 percent of boating deaths where instruction was known occurred on boats whose operators had not received boating safety instruction.

Michigan’s Great Lakes beach-safety guidance describes the lakes as large, powerful water systems prone to dangerous currents, and the DNR recommends U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets, especially for new and inexperienced swimmers. Cara Aiken, another auxiliary representative, put the point plainly: “a life jacket does no good if it is stuffed under the front compartment of a kayak or left below deck on a boat.”

Ticket sales for the auxiliary’s May 16 course had already closed, but another class is planned for June through the Traverse City Coast Guard Auxiliary’s Eventbrite page. For boaters preparing to launch this season, the message from Traverse City is direct: get the certificate, wear the life jacket and make the trip safer before the boat ever leaves shore.