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Officials Offer Reminders As We Enter Busiest Season For Recreational Boating

June 22, 2022 Steve Schwaller

(Wahpeton)– Officials are reminding everyone to play it safe on the water as we enter one of the busiest times of the season for recreational boating. Susan Stocker, boating law administrator and education coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources tells KUOO news it’s important to make sure your equipment is in working order BEFORE you get on the water and that the required items are on board…

“Have your passengers and everyone be on board to wear a life jacket and also be the lookout. So you may be operating a boat for your entire life, but as we know with the increase in boat registrations and boat sales, there’s a lot of people out there that are not as equipped with operating. So if you have everybody on your boat being as a look out, it will make for a safer and more successful day on the water.”

Stocker adds it’s very important to abide by the capacity limitations for your particular water craft…

“You know each boat is designed by the manufacturer to only hold so many persons and/or the amount of equipment on board. So it’s very, very important that you stay with the capacity levels because the manufacturers have designed the amount of flotation that is in that boat so that it can be also operated in a safe manner.”

It’s also very important to observe speed and distance regulations and buoys.

Stocker says they will once again be conducting a special campaign over the upcoming 4th of July called “Operation Dry Water” to draw public attention to the hazards of boating under the influence. We’ll have more on that in coming days.

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