Rafting Safety

[Bumper Buddy]

Please be sure to have a safe boat captain aboard your boat. We all have alot of money invested in our boats... so please keep that in mind when rafting and boarding other boats. Be sure to have PLENTY of GOOD size bumpers and ropes.We are all here to help so be SAFE and have a good time. Visit www.uscgboating.org for ore info on Safe boating

[Ted]

Courtesy of www.cbpba.com (http://www.cbpba.com):

Raft Up Etiquette

Smaller boats, please hover and wait for larger sized boats to run in closer to bulkheads or the raftup line. Rafting up several boats is easier and stronger when we run larger boat sizes out to the smaller sizes.
Raft up only with boats of similar size and type to avoid damage caused by rubbing between dramatically disparate sizes (i.e., a 22' up against a 42' won't work, damage will most likely result to both vessels).
NO SHOES PLEASE! Remove shoes before traversing the raftup, and try to walk "swim platform to swim platform" if available.
Worth repeating, walk only on swim platforms to cross the raftup or crawl across sunpads on boats with no platform area.
Place guests/mates at positions on the bow and stern for raftup approach, have lines and fenders ready. Have an anchor ready as well, people on the raft will let you know if it's going to be needed.
Use a minimum of 2 fenders for rafting up, 3 is preferred.
Invest in the largest fenders you can, they help protect both boats especially in areas where there is wave or wake action. You'll never catch any grief for having too big fenders, with regard to fenders, size matters!! http://www.cbpba.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Always assist incoming boats joining the raftup. There's really very few times where we have "too many people helping". http://www.cbpba.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Request permission to board bow areas before jumping over to assist, bare feet only.
Always approach at idle speed and angle approach into the wind or current.
Use VHF Channel 69 for boat-to-boat communication. This is the standard channel we use for CBPBA events, Bumperbash may choose something different. :confused:

[Bumper Buddy]

Thanks Ted,
We will also use channel 69 We will follow all the safety guidelines as the CBPBA. For those of you that are not members yet please visit www.cbpba.com and sign up you can learn alot of useful information from that site.

[Keith]

I updated the raftup etiquette and guidelines (http://www.cbpba.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index&myfaq=yes&id_cat=8&categories=Raft+Up+%26+Poker+Run+Tips#16) just a bit. Check them out.