Boater calls rise during busy Labor Day weekend on Cape Fear waterways

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A busy Labor Day weekend on the waterways meant more boaters — and more calls for help.

Wrightsville Beach resident Guion Lee was among those who needed assistance after his boat struck an object beneath the water.

“We’re just cruising around looking for some fish,” Lee said. “I guess there was a piling or a log sitting a couple feet underneath the water that I just never saw. We hit that log, and it drove the motor. It’s not working anymore.”

Lee is one of several boaters Sea Tow captain Ryan Saporito has responded to during the busy holiday weekend.

Engine failures are among the more common calls Saporito receives while patrolling the waterways.

“Those are pretty common — engine failure,” Saporito said. “It doesn’t matter how much preventative maintenance you do to it. It’s really only a matter of time before something is going to go wrong.”

On a typical weekend, Saporito and his crew respond to about 15 to 20 service calls. With hundreds of boats on the water during a three-day holiday weekend, he said those numbers can quickly add up.

Saporito said he has already seen a 9% increase in boater calls compared with last year, not just during Labor Day weekend but throughout the season.

As the summer boating season winds down, Saporito has several safety tips for boaters, including one simple message: Be patient.

That is especially important when boaters encounter a Sea Tow crew working to get someone safely back to shore.

“When we’re towing, we request that you come down to a no-wake speed,” Saporito said. “A lot of times people will slow down to maybe that 10-knot range and actually throw a larger wake than they would if they were on plane. So we definitely appreciate when people slow all the way down.”

Saporito also recommends that boaters slow down and avoid using unnecessary horsepower.

“Number one is just slow down,” he said. “Just because you might have a lot of extra horsepower, don’t use all of it.”

Boaters should also have a plan in case something goes wrong, he said.

“Think of the contingency plans. What happens if something goes wrong?” Saporito said. “Knowing how to use your anchor and having it immediately available so that if something does happen, you could deploy the anchor and stabilize the situation.”

Finally, Saporito said boaters should make safety a priority before leaving the dock.

That includes making sure the person operating the boat is sober and that the proper safety equipment is on the boat.

“Make sure that whoever’s operating the boat is going to be sober,” Saporito said. “Designate that sober skipper. They’re the one who’s going to be responsible for the party while you’re out here, and make sure that there’s a life jacket for everybody on board,” he said.

Some other safety tips include paying attention to your surroundings, operating at a safe speed, and wearing your engine cutoff device on your wrist.