I Yak also, and found this on a board I go to for that sport, and saw this interesting post! Sail is by far the safest water activity,(by air thrust I am sure they mean those Florida swamp buggies) by these stats. I have 2 slightly used Yaks for sale now.....just kidding!
Got a copy of the USCG Boating Statistics for 2001 the other day. Ready for more stats?
In 2001 there were:
352 deaths associated with the use of open motor boats.
101 deaths associated with the use of canoes and kayaks. (93% were drowning)
50 deaths associated with the use of PWCs.
23 deaths were whitewater related
Overall boating accidents declined steadily in 2000 and 2001 from over 8000 to a little over 6000.
Fatalities remained fairly constant but the number of boats registered increased notably.
Number of accidents, injuries and deaths by type of propulsion:
A = Accidents // I = Injuries // D = Deaths
Air thrust A-79 I-50 D-2
Manual A-293 I-162 D-144
Propeller A-4737 I-2139 D-326
Sail A-126 I-28 D-19
Water Jet A-2491 I-1357 D-45
Unknown A-1248 I-538 D-145
Manually propelled boats accounted for:
Only 3.7% of accidents that were reported
Only 4.3% of injuries that were reported BUT...
OVER 26% of FATALITIES that were reported
(These figures exclude the Unknown category.)
Of the 94 drownings involving kayaks/canoes 24 victims were wearing PFDs and 70 were not. There were only three deaths caused by hypothermia associated with kayaks/canoes. One victim was wearing a PFD while two were not.
Good news = ZERO deaths were reported as being caused by carbon monoxide associated with kayaks/canoes.
This part may not be perfectly accurate but from what I could see on the chart included there are ten states/territories that require all kayaks and canoes to be registered. They are: Arizona, Dist. Of Col., Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Guam, Virgin Islands, and Am. Samoa. Then there were two states that would require some canoes/kayaks to be registered. They are Iowa & Minnesota. I think all states require registration of canoes and kayaks that are powered by even a trolling motor.
Property damage resulting from boating accidents exceeded 37 million in 2001. Florida and California were the leading states for numbers of accidents and deaths.
