Through knowledge, seapower<\/strong><\/p>\n Both McCullough and Folkerts pointed out how programs like Kids Don’t Float are reflected in Alaska’s flotation device use numbers and in declining casualties over the years.<\/p>\n “Our (life jacket) wear rate for 13-18 year olds is 4-5 times the national average. That was not the case in 2000,” McCullough said. “Now, we’re seeing it go to adults. Those kids are growing. It’s like seatbelts. We’re seeing a change in the culture.”<\/p>\n Casualties have been shifting from motorboats to more paddlecraft, such as stand-up paddleboards, kayaks and canoes, Folkerts said.<\/p>\n “I base our programs around our fatality demographics,” Folkerts said. “That’s why we’re shifting a little more toward paddlecraft.”<\/p>\n Paddlecraft are not required to be registered in the state of Alaska, which is also one of the only states without a mandatory boater safety education program, Folkerts said. However, many adults have voluntarily reached out for boater safety courses, McCullough said.<\/p>\n “Education isn’t mandatory but we have people begging for training. I was afraid we were going to lose staff this spring because we were so overworked. We were kind of prepared for the schools to reengage after two years,” McCullough said. “That was what put them over the top — all the requests for adult training.”<\/p>\n Alaska’s first recreational boater casualty of the year was a kayaker near Chitina, according to Folkerts — a very late date in the year for the first casualty, especially considering the number of people on the water.<\/p>\n “I was pleasantly surprised that was our first fatal, given how many people on the water,” McCullough said. “We’re seeing more boating in the last couple years than we saw before.”<\/p>\n Both the Coast Guard and the state try to train as many people as request training as possible, McCullough said, even if it’s in a hard-to-reach location.<\/p>\n “We don’t turn down any reasonable request. We don’t turn down these communities just because they’re small or expensive,” McCullough said. “We don’t show up uninvited. We’re always demand-based; we’re invited out there. So if Sand Point or Clark’s Point ask, we show up.”<\/p>\n The next major step would be a state regulation mandating boater education, Folkerts said. <\/p>\n “We’re doing what we can with what we have,” Folkerts said. “Once we get some mandatory education, that’s really going to make a difference.”<\/p>\n
![\"Page](\"s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/22079077\/pages\/recreational-boating-statistics-2021-p63-xlarge.gif?ts=1657040578\")
<\/p>\n