Boaters in Gimli, Winnipeg Beach get warnings instead of hefty fines over long weekend

Many boaters in Manitoba over the August long weekend were not following proper safety measures, according to the Canadian Safe Boating Council.

The council said an RCMP officer checked on 24 boats this past weekend in the Gimli/Winnipeg Beach area. The officer reported that only two of the two-dozen boats were compliant with all safety regulations.

Kevin Tordiffe, the operations manager for the Lifesaving Society, said being compliant constitutes more than just having a boating license, or pleasure craft operator card.

“Navigational lights on your boat, a bailing device, personal floatation devices (life jackets) for every occupant of the boat, you need to have a whistle, you need to have flares, a rope for rescue, all those kinds of things,” he said.

Tordiffe said that each item missing from a boat can be subject to a fine. This past weekend, officers were issuing notices of deficiencies to boaters that indicated how much the fine would be.

The officer in Gimli/Winnipeg Beach reported writing just under $30,000 in deficiencies, and that two of the boats had liquor, though the operators had not been drinking.

“The RCMP are choosing to educate rather than enforce right now,” Tordiffe said. “In my opinion, they should have, we should have been issuing fines. You know, the standards we’re talking about are 20-years-old. The boater licensing program came into effect in 1999, so we’ve had more than enough time to figure out what we should be doing to have safe boats out on these waterways.”

Tordiffe also pointed to data from the most recent Manitoba Drowning Report that indicated 70 per cent of boating fatalities over the last several years involved alcohol, almost double the national average of 40 per cent, and 96 per cent of fatalities involve people not wearing life jackets.

“These are people who aren’t understanding the best practices for keeping themselves safe while boating, so I think it is a trend,” he said.

“Understand what you need to do to be compliant, because it’s there for your safety, and your family’s safety. And lastly, leave the alcohol at home.”