Going Coastal’s Boat Sober NY campaign raises awareness and promotes a more secure boating experience for the tens of thousands of recreational boaters plying local waters during warm weather months when resident boaters are joined by Intercoastal navigators and thousands of pleasure craft converge to experience the exhilaration of sailing into New York Harbor.

New York Harbor is one of the busiest waterways on the Eastern Seaboard. The world’s largest cruise liners, monster containerships, tugs, barges, sightseeing boats, dinner cruises, commuter ferries, water taxis and control vessels navigate federal channels and share city waters with thousands of pleasure boats. Tides and tidal currents unlike any other harbor increase the complexity of recreational boating here.

Some sobering facts:

About 50 percent of fatalities in the state’s waterways are linked to alcohol. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, a boat operator with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) above 0.10 is more than 10 times as likely to be killed in a boating accident as an operator who has consumed no alcohol. Many boaters may not realize that drinking while operating a boat is even more dangerous than drinking and driving. Research shows that a few hours of exposure to sun, glare, wind, noise, vibration, and other motion on the water produces a kind of fatigue known as “boater’s hypnosis”, which slows reaction time almost as much as if you were legally drunk. Adding alcohol to boating intensifies these effects. Dehydration from the sun causes alcohol to be absorbed even more quickly. Drinking while boating reduces your ability to hold your breath under water. One third of all boating accidents involve alcohol or drugs.

BOAT SAFER, BOAT SOBER!

Always wear a life jacket!

This project was funded by a Boating Safety and Clean Water grant from the BoatU.S. Foundation.  Artwork for the Boat Sober NY “Think Before You Drink” campaign was the product, a winning design from Evelyn Davis. The other great entries in the poster design competition are in th slide show below, artists include: Andrew Davis, Linda Pinkans, Alexandra Anton Honorato, Evelyn Davis, Miguel Puga, and Frances Gaffney