R26-230 National Safe Boating Week

1:02:47Alright, R H two.

1:02:51Okay. National Safe Boating Week, if you're here for that, please step up to the podium.

1:02:59Okay.

1:03:02All right, I will go ahead and read the resolution. Thank you. Resolution number 26-230, a resolution by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, declaring the week of May 16th through 22nd, 2026, as National Safe Boating Week in Pasco County. Whereas the National Safe Boating Council, NSBC, was organized in September of 1958 under the name National Safe Boating Commission. The goal of the National Safe

1:03:32Boating Council is to improve boater behavior through education, awareness, and training to make recreational boating a safe and enjoyable experience by reducing boating accidents. ANRAS National Safe Boating Week is observed to bring attention to important life-saving tips for recreational boaters so that they can have a safer, more fun experience out on the water throughout the year. ANRAS through basic boating safety pr procedures Caring safety. carrying life saving emergency distress

1:04:02and communication equipment, wearing life jackets, attending safe boating courses, participating in free boat safety checks, and staying sober when navigating, we can help ensure Boaters s uh sorry, we can help ensure boaters stay safe throughout the season. ANRAS and on average six hundred and fifty people die each year in boating related accidents in the United States, with most of these accidents caused by human error or poor judgment and not by the boat, equipment, or environmental factors.

1:04:37And the mission of the United States Coast Guard classes are offered monthly by Hudson Flotilla 117 United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. ANRAS, the Hudson Flotilla 117, United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, teaches boating safety classes, performs vessel safety checks, and works in the community for boater safety. ANRAS boaters are encouraged to be conscientious and deliberate. In making choices that will ensure a safe boating experience for all boaters enjoying the waterways of

1:05:07our community. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said board hereby recognizes the importance of boat of safe boating and declares May 16th through the 22nd, 2026, as National Safe Boating Week in Pasco County. Done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present and

1:05:27Mm. Move

1:05:28to approve. Second. All

1:05:30in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Commissioner Starkey.

1:05:33I am very happy to be sponsoring this one. Um as a I was just trying to think. Um, I come from a a long family of boaters and um so I've been on the water my whole life and I I know how important this is. Uh I have helped rescue people who had to be uh pulled out of the water because other people were were doing unsafe boating practices, usually with their weight. Um I s I saw a whole boatload of tour tourists

1:06:04get capsized from a big boat who who was going where they shouldn't have been and thrown out a big wake and the boat went right under. It was it was awful. Um and I understand just this week someone ran into one of our uh channel markers at Gulf Harbors and Um channel four. And um So Also we have the husband of one of our uh regular land use attorneys who had a wake, pushed them onto the rocks in our Gulf Harbor

1:06:34Channel, and they spent like twenty-one hours on their boat because they couldn't get off till the next big high tide. So uh thank you for what you do. It's important for our community to be able to vote safely and we'd love to hear you speak.

1:06:47Well I apologize for not having more backup here. I I kind of feel out class with the two previous groups, but I do the best.

1:06:58we do try to support the Coast Guard. Our primary m mission is as a force multiplier for the Coast Guard, for the US Coast Guard. And this is Coast Guard World. We understand that. from the state of Florida, anywhere around Florida you're gonna see Coast Guard boats. But our primary job, as you said, is boating safety and we do teach classes, we do vessel inspections, we do safety checks, we talk to the kids in the schools. We've we've been around trying to do this since about nineteen thirty

1:07:28nine. Wow. So there's over two million boaters registered in the state of Florida. And And you know, un a lot of them come from places that are not used to our type of water, our type of of weather conditions and situations. So what we can do to make their life better and in turn make your life better on the water, that's what we're trying to do and that's what we put our effort into. We are all volunteer. We don't bake a dime on this thing. And it's we put a lot

1:07:58of time and effort into doing it.

1:08:00Well we're very grateful. Um I do have a question for you. You just kinda brought it up. And my staff was looking into it this morning. What do you know what the rules are on registration for a boat? Is there a size? Mr. Landstein

1:08:12has emailed you

1:08:13that

1:08:13answered.

1:08:15Oh, I didn't know I asked him.

1:08:18They do need to be registered and except there's a few exceptions that if they're only used on private um lakes, they don't have to be registered. Okay. Right.

1:08:26But if they're on public water they have to be registered and it's anything under s over 16 feet. Uh we will register smaller boats like can we in fact uh this past weekend we were in Newport Ritchie at the ramp and we had a fleet of kayaks come in and it was kind of interesting to vessel safety checks on the kayaks. Uh-huh.

1:08:52Uh that's that's the rule. It has to be registered. If it's on public water, it has to be registered.

1:08:57Okay. Thank you so much. I'm sorry for the for the record. Could you please state your name?

1:09:00Stephen Sumner. Thank you. Thank you, Matt.

1:09:02All

1:09:02right,

1:09:03let's go down and take

1:09:03a photo.

1:09:06Mm-hmm.

1:09:13You get to be front and center.

1:09:16Thank you very much.

1:09:17Should I take my hand?

1:09:18And she's a

1:09:19bookseller.

1:09:23I do. And

1:09:24there you go. Thank you very much.

1:09:28It's in my office. You get

1:09:29on there

1:09:30stuff. Come on. We're all friends

1:09:32here. We're all

1:09:34friends here.

1:09:34Come on in.

1:09:40Definitely.

1:09:41All right, ladies and gents, right here. One, two, and three.

1:10:08There's a great site to see very bad boating called the Hollover Inlet. If you go to YouTube.