Office of Boating Safety - Safe Boating Guide

The Safe Boating Guide which is available in PDF format (average file size 7.25 MB) will download in approximately 35 minute and 11 seconds on a 28.8 connection and may be viewed using Acrobat Reader (version 3.0 or higher). This reader is available free of charge. Please visit Adobe’s web site where you can download the Acrobat Reader.

Cover Page (853 KB)

Table of Contents  (329 KB)

Your guide to safe boating (179 KB)

Common sense and maximizing your personal safety (297 KB)

• Don’t cruise with booze
• Whose responsibility is safe boating?
• Take a boating safety course

Relevant laws that apply to pleasure craft (510 KB)

• Small Vessel Regulations
• Collision Regulations
• Canada Shipping Act
• Boating Restriction Regulations
• Charts and Nautical Publications Regulations
• Navigation Safety Regulations
• Criminal Code of Canada
• Competency of Operators Pleasure Craft Regulations
• Other regulations
• Boating law enforcement

Inspecting your pleasure craft (347 KB)

• Pleasure Craft Courtesy Checks
• Pre-departure checklists

Making and filing sail plans  (353 KB)

• Avoiding specific hazards
• Monitoring the weather
• Using nautical charts

Emergency! What are you going to do? (702 KB)

• Marine radio communications
• Marine VHF radio and GPS
• Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)
• Cellphones and *16
• Distress signals
• Overboard recovery techniques
• Surviving in cold water

Fuel safety and carbon monoxide awareness (319 KB)

• Engine start-up
• Fuel-burning appliances
• Ignition protection
• Fuelling procedures

Pleasure craft and pleasure craft activities (368 KB)

• Personal watercraft operators
• Kayakers
• Anglers and hunters

Construction Standards for Small Vessels (249 KB)

• Canadian compliance labels
• Hull identification number (HIN)
• Overloading your boat

Minimum required equipment (1.29 MB)

• Sailboards
• Paddleboats and watercycles less than 6 m (19’8”) in length
• Canoes, kayaks, rowboats and rowing shells less than 6 m (19’8”) in length
• Unpowered pleasure craft less than 6 m (19’8”) in length Personal watercraft (PWC)
• Powered pleasure craft less than 6 m (19’8”) in length
• Pleasure craft greater than 6 m (19’8”) in length but no greater than 8 m (26’3”) in length
• Pleasure craft greater than 8 m (26’3”) in length but no greater than 12 m (39’4”) in length
• Pleasure craft greater than 12 m (39’4”) in length but no greater than 20 m (65’7”) in length

Specific requirements for pleasure craft involved in competition (164 KB)

• Alternative equipment for racing canoes, racing kayaks and rowing shells
• Alternative equipment for racing-type pleasure craft

Personal protection equipment (576 KB)

• Lifejackets
• Personal flotation devices (PFDs)
• Keeping kids afloat
• Labels
• Proper care of your flotation device
• It won’t work if you don’t wear it
• Buoyant heaving lines
• Lifebuoys
• Reboarding devices

Boat safety equipment (584 KB)

• Manual propelling device
• Bailers and manual water pumps
• Anchors
• Portable fire extinguishers
• Reacting to a fire

Distress equipment (407 KB)

• Watertight flashlights
• Distress flares

Navigation equipment (258 KB)

• Sound-signalling devices
• Sound-signalling appliances
• Navigation lights
• Radar reflectors

Towing  (332 KB)

• Charts and publications 
• Suggested items to take on board
• First aid kit

Proper documentation (256 KB)

• Licensing your pleasure craft
• New pleasure craft?
• Transferring ownership
• Registering your pleasure craft

Sharing waterways (500 KB)

• Rules of the road
• Right-of-way rules
• Maintaining a proper lookout and avoiding a collision
• Be aware and be considerate
• Reduce engine noise
• Keep your distance from divers below the surface
• Steer clear of shipping lanes
• Operate at a safe speed
• Waterskiing and other towing activities
• Respect and protect the aquatic environment

Boating restrictions (370 KB)

• Reading a restriction sign
• Province-wide shore-line speed restrictions

Safety in historic canals and locks (288 KB)

• Passage through a lock
• Safety around dams

Quick reference cards (828 KB)

• Sail plan
• The Canadian Aids to Navigation System
• Operating rules
• Distress signals

Contact information (410 KB)

• Regional Transport Canada Centres
• Marine and Air Search and Rescue emergency telephone numbers 
• Charts, tide and current tables and more
• Marine weather forecasts
• Marine publications
• Pleasure craft licensing