Queensland’s 'occasional' skippers warned to brush up on their rules

“There’s nothing quite like the summer holidays for getting out on the water and Queenslanders certainly did that in droves over the past few months,” the water safety watchdog said in an article published in its latest newsletter.

“Our marine officers and our enforcement partners, Queensland Water Police and Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol, were out there among amongst them.

“And, judging by what they saw, there are many boat operators who simply do not get out on the water often enough to maintain their basic boating skills and knowledge.”

MSQ said people who only hit the water “once or twice a year” were a cause for concern.

It said this was “particularly in popular or congested waterways, when there is no substitute for having a good knowledge of the basic rules of seamanship that are designed to ensure we can all use the waterways safely”.

Queensland waterways have different speed rules for boats and jet skis, something that was identified as a problem among part-time boaters.

Another was knowing what the different types of navigation markers meant, and which side a boat had to pass them on to remain safe.

Sometimes it was as simple as knowing what side a skipper should pass another boat on, it said.

Navigation lights, and the correct ones to use depending on whether the boat was moving or anchored up, came in for special attention.

“We recently quizzed a skipper about why his boat was lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree showing all its navigation lights while anchored rather than just his all-around white light,” Maritime Safety Queensland said.

“His answer: they were all on one switch. Sadly, in today’s social media-driven parlance, that was a fail. Not an epic fail – that dubious honour is reserved for the skipper who fails to show any navigation lights at all.”