A Brief History
“Safe Boating Week,” an informal outreach program, originally grew out of a local Massachusetts U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Vessel Safety Check initiative begun in 1952. When President Eisenhower signed a resolution in 1958 that made National Safe Boating Week official, a National Safe Boating Week Committee was formed within the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Operations – the precursor to today’s National Safe Boating Council.

National Safe Boating Week grew until National Safe Boating Week Committee members decided to expand their safe boating-related public outreach beyond one week per year. They began calling it the National Safe Boating Campaign. In 1973, it became a non-profit corporation called the National Safe Boating Committee, Inc., and changed its name to the “National Safe Boating Council” the following year. By becoming a non-profit, NSBC was able to get a wider base of organizations, volunteers, and, through grants, funding.

The Campaign got another jumpstart in 1996, when the organization – formerly an all-volunteer group with a periodically contracted part-time staff – hired its first Executive Director. Virgil Chambers, an NSBC volunteer since the early 1980s, became its first official employee shortly after he retired from his position as Chief of Boating Safety for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boating Commission.

Once Virgil Chambers and other staff members were aboard, the NSBC became a more viable organization. “With full-time staff, we were able to dedicate the time and energy that recreational boating safety deserved,” said Chambers.

Many of the programs and developments newer members take for granted began under Virgil’s directorship. In 1997, the NSBC and the National Water Safety Congress merged their national conferences to create the larger and more influential International Boating and Water Safety Summit, the premier boating education conference for professionals and volunteers internationally. To make sure kids learned about safe boating early on, and in a way they could understand, NSBC introduced the Boating Safety Sidekicks in 2000. That same year, the concept of a safe boating week was adopted by safe boating organizations within Canada, and National Safe Boating Week became North American Safe Boating Week. The Saved by the Jacket book and the “Be a Survivor: Wear It!” contest became important national instruments that used a positive spin to promote life jacket wear.  During 2007, NSBC joined with the U.S. Coast Guard, California Department of Boating and Waterways, and BoatU.S. Foundation to develop and implement a summer-long outreach program in California’s Sacramento Delta (a region with a relatively high drowning rate and low life jacket-wear rate). The pilot program doubled life jacket wear on the Delta, and will be repeated there and adapted for use in other popular boating regions within the U.S. this summer.

A Golden Year
One of the ways in which NSBC will commemorate the anniversary is by producing a book of the modern history of recreational boating safety. Rather than using its pages to commend itself for 50 years well done, it is using the opportunity to put together a written narrative of the history of boating safety. “It’s in the last 50 years or so that the majority of the boating safety milestones were achieved,” he continues. “There isn’t a single place to go to right now to find out about how events and programs evolved to make up what recreational boating safety is today.  This book will have narratives on things like the origins of the Boating Safety Act of 1971 and the Wallop/Breaux Trust Fund. It will be a living history of boating safety-related education, legislation, technology, and law enforcement,” says Virgil Chambers. The book is being written with the support of the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Additional anniversary activities will include a special celebration during April’s International Boating and Water Safety Summit, in which all current and past inductees of the Boating Safety Hall of Fame and past chairs of the council will be honored and each given a special gold-trimmed burgee. A Congressional Reception to celebrate National Safe Boating Week will be held May 13, and a custom NSBC postage stamp is being created by NSBC.

Hopes for the Future
Virgil Chambers was asked what he hopes will have been accomplished by NSBC’s 65th anniversary. He has two items on his wish list. The first, a goal attainable in the near future, is an expansion of the organization’s training programs to better serve the membership. “We’re well-established with our instructor certification training program and have a good start on the close-quarter boat handling for professionals program,” he says. “But I’d like to create additional educational programs that will more fully meet members’ needs.”

The second item Virgil hopes will be a reality in 2023 is an NSBC boating-safety museum. In it, he envisions the pictures and stories of those who have been inducted into the Boating Safety Hall of Fame. Also, he sees it having boating safety-related exhibits, such as the history of life jackets, from the late 19th-century cork vest, the Mae West of World War II, the “vintage” inflatables of 2008, and whatever innovations the technology of the early 2020s brings.

In the last 10 years alone, NSBC has come a long way. Its membership has increased nearly six fold, it is offering more grants and educational programs than ever, and the safe boating campaign is now an international effort. Based on accomplishments like these, there seems to be little doubt that an article on the organization’s 65th anniversary will read very much the way Chambers hopes it will.

The U.S. Coast Guard is asking all boat owners and operators to help reduce fatalities, injuries, property damages, and associated healthcare costs related to recreational boating accidents by taking personal responsibility for their own safety and the safety of their passengers. Essential steps include: always wear a life jacket and require passengers to do the same; never boat under the influence (BUI); successfully complete a boating safety course; and get a Vessel Safety Check (VSC) annually from local U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, United States Power Squadrons®, or your state boating agency’s Vessel Examiners. The U.S. Coast Guard reminds all boaters to “Boat Responsibly!”

For more information, visit www.USCGboating.org.