Randy Scism recently offered some insight as to his best boating safety tips for the article “The Question Of Safety” in the latest issue of Speed On The Water Magazine. Check out what he had to say below, and make sure to get your own copy here to read the magazine in full.
This is a topic that no one wants to touch, because if you talk about high-performance powerboating safety you’re calling attention to it. You’re saying that it could be better, and that it needs to be better. And for a lot people in the go-fast boat industry and community, saying such things, at least publicly, seems like a really bad idea. Until someone dies. Then we all want to talk about it—we need to talk about it to process our grief—until we get tired of talking about it and go back to business as usual. Nothing changes, and the cycle repeats itself with the next tragedy.
“When I consider what it takes to be safer on the water, I think it comes down to education and common sense. Also, we need to lose the drop-the-flag race mentality at poker runs. Everyone exercises their boat and we all know it can be done safely, but there’s a time and a place for everything. It all comes down to having common sense. I mean if traffic is bad on the highway you don’t drive your car 80 mph, do you? The situation should dictate how you run your boat. And if you really want to race, then sign up at an event that’s a closed course and go race. Come on out, we’d love to see you in Key West.” — Randy Scism, Offshore Racer/Boat Builder, Marine Technology Inc.
Source: www.speedonthewater.com; January 20, 2014.