Chris Edmonston: Hi! I am Chris Edmonston with BoatUS Foundation here today to talk to you about boating safety. Right now we are going to talk about things you can do before you even get to the boat to help make your day go smooth on the water.

Checklists are great for keeping track of things as you might, otherwise, normally forget. Here's some good checklist ideas for you; do you have food and drinks last for the day, do you have suntan lotion, how about the change of clothes and towels, what happens if you fall in, you might want to get change or at least dry off. And if you do fall in, you might want to have some warmer clothes than what you're originally wearing because water can get pretty cold, do you know what the weather is going to be the whole time you're out, oftentimes weather can change dramatically from when you starts to when you finish your time on the water. Now let's talk about float plans, float plans is probably one of most important things you can write down before you leave on your trip. Float plans is really nothing more than a simple message that you leave for friends or family to let them know where you're going, when you're going to be back and how long you are going to be gone. That's really all that you need. Today we want to show our boat from a public boat ramp located in a park. Now this park happens to be monitored by Rangers and many parks are. So finally your final tip about checklists are if you're launching from a public ramp, leave your float plan underneath your windshield wipers. Many Rangers or park operators will know to look for the float plan especially if it's after hours.

Now we done with checklists. Let's move on to what to do when you're taking guests and kids out on your boat with you.