Is sailing in the US more dangerous than the UK?

[Concerto]

The US Coastguard 2023 report on recreational boating accidents has just been published. They counted 3,844 accidents that involved 564 deaths and 2,126 injuries. These numbers are down compared to 2022, the number of accidents decreased 4.9%, the number of deaths decreased 11.3%, and the number of injuries decreased 4.3%. 75% of fatal boating accident victims drowned. of those drowning victims with reported life jacket usage, 87% were not wearing a life jacket. However, 80% of boaters who drowned were using vessels less than 21 feet in length.

Table 1 in the link below shows summary of the report details. Figure 4 shows alcohol was the major contributing factor in deaths. Table 9 shows that sailing was resposible for only 4 deaths out of the total of 564. Most deaths happened on inland waters (see table 11). Table 25 shows sailing is always in the low single digit percentage of deaths since 2009. So, sailing is safe in US water, but avoid small power boats.

https://uscgboating.org/library/accident-statistics/Recreational-Boating-Statistics-2023.pdf

 

[johnalison]

Thanks for that because it was too long for my attention span this evening. Although it is possible that Americans are more involved in small power boats, whether for recreation or fishing, than us, but I imagine the statistics are broadly similar. It does provide an argument against more legislation for sailors, though I think we accept the need for campaigns for safety by those such as the RNLI and others, annoying though they can sometimes be.

 

[sail sail]

Very dangerous because their channel markers are all the wrong way round.

 

[Neeves]

I believe the numbers also cover inland waters, lakes - some of which are quite big - but the numbers of participants primarily using small runabouts are high. I might thus expect the same sorts of accidents in both countries but the proportions to vary. I don't think comparing over all US and UK stats is comparing apples with apples but similar risks are involved - for example alcohol and small boats don't mix very well and speed kills.

I'm not sure that many residents in an inland city of the US, say Denver or Omaha, will own 40' yachts yet this would not be so unusual in UK 'inland' cities, Sheffield or Leeds.

Jonathan

 

[Tranona]

The US can produce that sort of data because reporting of boating accidents is a legal requirement. Therefore it is much easier to carry out an analysis of causes of accidents in relation to types of boats/users and locations. Such data is not collected in the UK as the 2 main sources, coastguard and RNLI report data in a format that suits them and drawn from the data related to their activities.

However it was useful to have that data (as well as some from Australia) during the debate on drink/boating as it showed that most of the "problem" was with a type of boating that is a minority activity in the UK. This was reinforced by the case based analysis (accident reports from MCA, inquests and prosecutions for example) which confirmed that the problem was in the same activity in the UK. The number of cases was extremely small which had an impact on the decision not to apply the law in relation to leisure boating.

 

[fredrussell]

Any pastime is likely to be more dangerous in the US as there are so many bullets flying randomly about. I once saw a film where, when they were really happy, the cowboys would fire their sidearms into the sky. It’s a health and safety nightmare.

 

[Zing]

An interesting report. I speed-read it and grabbed a few quick takeaways. Amongst others are:

Out of 5330 accidents only 35 accidents involved sailing boats. Open day boats and jet skis were involved in most.

3 times more people died in January than June or July although not many will be on the water in that month.

Collisions were the biggest accident type by far.

Lookout and inattention were by far the biggest factors.

Alcohol is the biggest cause of deaths.

Not wearing a life jacket is big in deaths.

Just after midnight is a very bad time for accidents/deaths.

 

[dunedin]

The OPs title is clearly a DM headline! From the data quoted, “sailing” is not dangerous in the USA - though perhaps recreational boating is.
As noted, huge numbers of casual boaters in small powered boats, towed to lake behind a "truck" and launched from trailers. As noted beer coolers a big factor.
Are many eaten by crocodiles?

 

[awol]

Are many eaten by crocodiles?

Alligators are more likely.

 

[Sandy]

Is sailing in the US more dangerous than the UK?

No, you only die once.

 

[Frogmogman]

Very dangerous because their channel markers are all the wrong way round.

The headquarters of IALA are in Saint Germain en Laye, so I regularly get guys from the US Coastguard, US Pilot’s association etc in my pub.

You may rest assured that I point this out to them regularly.

 

[LittleSister]

From my in depth scrutiny of a handful of USA boating accidents and boating policing videos that YouTube mysteriously punted to me, I get the impression that not only is there a preponderance of powered runabouts and excessive alcohol consumption, but also a preference for hugely (over?)powerful engines. Not to mention a dare-devil culture that seems to like to emulate the speed and style of stunts in blockbuster action movies. What could possibly wrong?

Based on the evidence available to me the denizens of those colonies have not yet developed the gentle art of pottering about on the water. Perhaps something should be put in the water supply to calm them all down.

 

[rotrax]

Many US Sailors are having trouble insuring sailboats. Either massively increased premiums or a refusal to renew.

Since the recent Hurricane incidents.

 

[Bouba]

81' Sunseeker Atlantis Sinks Off Florida Coast | BoatTEST

 

[johnalison]

From my in depth scrutiny of a handful of USA boating accidents and boating policing videos that YouTube mysteriously punted to me, I get the impression that not only is there a preponderance of powered runabouts and excessive alcohol consumption, but also a preference for hugely (over?)powerful engines. Not to mention a dare-devil culture that seems to like to emulate the speed and style of stunts in blockbuster action movies. What could possibly wrong?

Based on the evidence available to me the denizens of those colonies have not yet developed the gentle art of pottering about on the water. Perhaps something should be put in the water supply to calm them all down.

I suggest that we send over some bombers over (= one Lancaster) and bombard them with copies of Three Men in a Boat.

 

[Bilgediver]

Very dangerous because their channel markers are all the wrong way round.

And they get lost looking for transits out on the range

 

[Major_Clanger]

The US Coastguard's data is all-encompassing; it includes data for inland waters too.

That said, and this is only based on my own experience, the general standard of seamanship is lower than in the UK. Sure, they've produced many world class sailors but the general standard and behaviour of recreational users is perhaps partly responsible for the statistics.

 

[Bouba]

The boat owning boat using population in the States must be vast…compared to the UK it is probably more than the population difference. Also it is half a continent (plus scary bits like Alaska and Hawaii) so the situation is vastly different. And the weather extremes…plus it has boating year round because it includes so many hot places and is not seasonal like Britain. Also it has internal seas and wild rivers….Britain is extremely tame by comparison

 

[johnalison]

The boat owning boat using population in the States must be vast…compared to the UK it is probably more than the population difference. Also it is half a continent (plus scary bits like Alaska and Hawaii) so the situation is vastly different. And the weather extremes…plus it has boating year round because it includes so many hot places and is not seasonal like Britain. Also it has internal seas and wild rivers….Britain is extremely tame by comparison

And our licensing laws allow drinking from 18, so that young men don’t go mad in their 20s to the same extent.

 

[doug748]

The boat owning boat using population in the States must be vast…compared to the UK it is probably more than the population difference. Also it is half a continent (plus scary bits like Alaska and Hawaii) so the situation is vastly different. And the weather extremes…plus it has boating year round because it includes so many hot places and is not seasonal like Britain. Also it has internal seas and wild rivers….Britain is extremely tame by comparison

All of that, YouTube has some revealing stuff:

.