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Boating safety
This section includes a few of the many im-
portant safety precautions that you should
follow when boating.
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Alcohol and drugs
Never operate after drinking alcohol or tak-
ing drugs. Intoxication is one of the most
common factors contributing to boating fatal-
ities.
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Personal flotation devices
Have an approved personal flotation device
(PFD) on board for every occupant. Yamaha
recommends that you must wear a PFD
whenever boating. At a minimum, children
and non-swimmers should always wear
PFDs, and everyone should wear PFDs
when there are potentially hazardous boat-
ing conditions.
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People in the water
Always watch carefully for people in the wa-
ter, such as swimmers, skiers, or divers,
whenever the engine is running. When
someone is in the water near the boat, shift
into neutral and shut off the motor.
Stay away from swimming areas. Swimmers
can be hard to see.
The propeller can keep moving even when
the motor is in neutral. Shut off the engine
when a person is in the water near you.
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Passengers
Consult your boat manufacturer's instruc-
tions for details about appropriate passenger
locations in your boat and be sure all pas-
sengers are positioned properly before ac-
celerating and when operating above an idle
speed. Standing or sitting in non-designated
locations may result in being thrown either
Safety information
overboard or within the boat due to waves,
wakes, or sudden changes in speed or direc-
tion. Even when people are positioned prop-
erly, alert your passengers if you must make
any unusual maneuver. Always avoid jump-
ing waves or wakes.
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Overloading
Do not overload the boat. Consult the boat
capacity plate or boat manufacturer for max-
imum weight and number of passengers. Be
sure that weight is properly distributed ac-
cording to the boat manufacturers instruc-
tions. Overloading or incorrect weight
distribution can compromise the boats han-
dling and lead to an accident, capsizing or
swamping.
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Avoid collisions
Scan constantly for people, objects, and
other boats. Be alert for conditions that limit
your visibility or block your vision of others.
Operate defensively at safe speeds and
keep a safe distance away from people, ob-
jects, and other boats.
Do not follow directly behind other boats or
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waterskiers.
Avoid sharp turns or other maneuvers that
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make it hard for others to avoid you or un-
derstand where you are going.
Avoid areas with submerged objects or
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shallow water.
Ride within your limits and avoid aggres-
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sive maneuvers to reduce the risk of loss
of control, ejection, and collision.
Take early action to avoid collisions. Re-
G
member, boats do not have brakes, and
stopping the engine or reducing throttle
can reduce the ability to steer. If you are
not sure that you can stop in time before
hitting an obstacle, apply throttle and turn
in another direction.
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