Boating - After Your Ride in Your Personal Water Craft

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Ward Kovacs is a Lieutenant with the Ocean City Beach Patrol in Ocean City, Maryland where he has worked as an ocean lifeguard since 1983. Some of his chief interests during this time have been working on techniques for the care and treatment of patients who have suffered spinal injuries in the surf, supervising the Junior Beach Patrol program, and developing a rescue watercraft program. The area that has seen the most changes over the years has been in the watercraft program. In 1980 the Beach Patrol acquired its first motorized vessels. The town purchased four Zodiac Mark IV Grand Raid inflatable boats, and four 25 horsepower Evinrude outboards. The boats were not put to any regular use, as few guards knew how to operate them. Ward was one of those who enjoyed driving the boats in the surf, and spent hundreds of hours launching, beaching, and riding waves with the boats. Within a few years, Ward designed a three-day training school for lifeguards who were interested in operating the rescue craft. In the early days, the school was largely based on knowledge he gained through his own experiences; both good and bad. With the advent of jet-powered craft in the early 1990’s, the Beach Patrol began to use two rigid hulled Zodiac jet boats that were powered by Yamaha motors. They later moved toward using personal watercraft along with rescue sleds that attach to rear of the vessels. Each advancement in technology has required Ward to make changes in the way rescue craft are deployed and used. The Beach Patrol now uses four Kawasaki 1200 cc Jetskis with rescue sleds. Lt. Kovacs continues to oversee the purchasing and deployment of watercraft, and the training of lifeguards who use them.

Boating - After Your Ride in Your Personal Water Craft

In this video, ocean lifeguard and rescue boat instructor Ward Kovacs discusses key areas of concern for those interested in owning or operating a personal watercraft. (PWC) The information provided is intended to serve as an introduction to PWC’s and their use. Ward covers important safety tips that will help ensure an enjoyable and safe experience on the water from the very first the time out.

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Transcripts

Hi, I'm Warren (ph) Kovacs. I'm the Rescue Boat Instructor for the Ocean City, Maryland, Beach Patrol. In this segment of our video on personal watercraft, well over some quick things to do, once you have your boat out of the water. First thing you want to do is while you are still on a boat ramp or on an incline, you want to open up your drain plugs in the back. That way the boat tills back on the incline, it will maximize the amount of water that you will get out of your hull. If you have a battery, turn off switch. You want to make sure that you turn your battery off because that will store your battery and give you the best chances of having a good trip the next time you take your boat out.

Once you are back in the place where you want to store your personal watercraft, I really recommend that you open up all the watertight compartments and that will allow your watercraft to dry out well that way and it wont accumulate dangerous fumes in the engine department. Again, once you are back in a garage or wherever you are going to store your ski, let it dry out well. Weve gone over a lot of information on personal watercraft, bottom-line is that most people buy personal watercraft to enjoy them, and really we hope that you have fun but be safe while you are doing and enjoy your personal watercraft.

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