IF Mark Wenban is looking for an escape for him and his family, he takes to the water.
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“I just like to unwind and relax, and I like fishing,” said Mr Wenban, as he packed up his runabout at the Carrington boat ramp, after being out on Newcastle Harbour with his partner and three-year-old daughter.
Yet a new report by water safety organisation Royal Life Saving indicates how boating pleasure can turn to tragedy. The study shows 473 people drowned as a result of boating or watercraft activities in Australia between July 2005 and June 2015. In New South Wales, there were 149 deaths, and 29 of those were in the Hunter and on the Central Coast.
“I was very surprised,” said Tanya Brunckhorst, the Hunter regional manager for Royal Life Saving, about the figures. “We knew there was an issue, but I was surprised they were so high in this region.”
According to the study, more than 41 per cent of the drowning deaths in the region occurred on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. In nine of the cases, or about 31 per cent of the total, the person was fishing from a boat when they drowned.
Ninety-three per cent of those who died were male. The age group most affected was those over 65 years old, accounting for 28 per cent of the deaths.
Ms Brunckhorst said many older boat users were “very traditional and set in their ways”, and that some resisted wearing a lifejacket.
“They’re often old school,” said 25-year-old James Redriff, as he cleaned fish after being out on the Hunter River with his father, Neal, in their half-cabin cruiser. “They don’t know all the latest rules.”
To enforce rules and improve awareness, Roads and Maritime Services and NSW Police officers have been on the water, conducting Operation Boatsafe for the past eight days. One key issue has been ensuring lifejackets are maintained and worn at the right times.
The Royal Life Saving study found that in 52 per cent of the drowning cases in the region, the person was not wearing a lifejacket.
Mark Wenban has his family wearing lifejackets on their boat.
“Really, you should wear a lifejacket; that’s the safest thing you can do,” he said.
Another factor that was prominent in the Royal Life Saving study was alcohol. It was recorded in 27 per cent of the cases, and, of those, 62.5 per cent were above the legal limit for operating a vessel. Drugs were present in 28 per cent of the cases, with a quarter of those indicating illegal drugs had been used.
Neal Redriff said when he was out on his boat, his self-imposed rule was to drink no alcohol.
“But I know blokes who think it’s mandatory for them to have a beer before they go out,” said Mr Redriff.
