With a forecast of fantastic weather for the long Columbus Day weekend, federal, state and local authorities said they will be out in full force to patrol Biscayne Bay in anticipation of the many boaters expected to hit the water.
Officials are sticking to the old adage of preparing for the worst and hoping for the best during a weekend that has regularly ended with an incident log full of arrests, injuries and, occasionally, deaths, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, at a news conference Thursday.
Three people were killed in boating accidents in 2002 and two college students died in a two-boat crash that severely injured seven others in 2006.
“We don’t want that to be a pattern,” Pino said. “We need the boating community to assist us.”
The U.S. Coast Guard, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, Miami-Dade Police and others will join the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to enforce a host of rules designed to keep boaters, swimmers and spectators safe.
For example, boats will not be allowed to anchor outside of a designated area set up by the Coast Guard. Officers will also be handing out citations for inadequate safety equipment, driving carelessly or operating a vessel under the influence.
Other rules have been added to the list of safety standards as a result of past incidents, said Lt. John Corbett, commanding officer of Coast Guard Station, Miami Beach.
“Over the years, we’ve added the five-boat rafting rule, which limits the number of boats tied together to five,” said Lt. John Corbett, commanding officer of Coast Guard Station Miami Beach. “That allows us to get around and respond to the individual boats more quickly.”
Law-enforcement officials are also asking boaters to stay docked after dark to avoid hitting swimmers, grounding their vessels in shallow areas or crashing into other boats.
The 2006 boat crash that killed two college students happened at around 9 p.m., long after the sun had set, police said.
“The majority of fatalities and serious incidents have occurred at night with boaters driving into other boaters,” said Didier Carod, chief ranger for Biscayne National Park.
Hundreds of boats are expected to file into the bay for the Columbus Day weekend events. In the past, floating revelers have gone naked, disregarded blood-alcohol level limits and blasted loud music from their powerboats.
Many boaters will be watching the Columbus Day Regatta, an annual sailboat race that will feature 90 sailboats racing from the Rickenbacker Causeway, crisscrossing Biscayne Bay and ending just north of Black Ledge Light.
The regatta’s organizers stress that their event is separate from the drunken revelry and that they have kept a clean track record over the years.
“We’ve been doing it for 55 years with no deaths, no injuries to speak of,” said regatta chairman Mark Pincus. “We like to have fun but we’re definitely not getting nude or crazy drunk.”
Despite the nudity and booze, last year’s event went by relatively safely, Corbett said. There were 10 boating under the influence citations, 31 trauma calls, and only a single boat fire. One woman was struck by a boat propeller, but there were no deaths.
But since this weekend’s forecast calls for sunny skies, law-enforcement agencies are expecting more boats, more booze, and more emergencies on the bay.
“Last year, the weather wasn’t as good as it is expected to be [this year], so we didn’t have as much boat traffic,” Corbett said. “We’ve beefed up our crews and we’re bringing in extra coast guard units from other areas to be able to respond and to keep some sort of normalcy during the weekend.”
