The WaterWise Team has been busy these last few weeks with various events, presentations and on-water visits. We finished our school presentations at the end of June, but continued doing WaterWise Wisdom visits at local campgrounds and parks.

Keri and I have been out on the WaterWise boat all over British Columbia; talking with enthusiastic boaters from Nanaimo to Vernon! We headed out for a tour of the Okanagan area in early July, where we spoke to over 250 boaters during our on-water courtesy safety checks and handed out some Mustang PFDs! We returned from sunny Kalamalka Lake just in time to do a few more WaterWise Wisdom presentations around the lower mainland before heading out to Vancouver Island for the Nanaimo Marine Festival and Championship Bathtub Race.

This week we’ve been assisting the Vancouver Police Department and Transport Canada’s Office of Safe Boating in preparing local boat launches for HSBC’s Celebration of Light.
Next up for the Team: we’re off to Penticton for the 61st annual Peach Festival! We’ll keep you updated!

Rachel and Keri

With the summer having officially begun, the WaterWise Boat Safety Team just finished all elementary school visits and WaterWise Wisdom presentations, where we were able to educate a large group of children on boating and water safety just in time for the start of summer!

Last weekend kicked off with Boat for Hope, where we assisted Mustang Survival and the Coast Guard on the water near Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. The day was filled with pirates, treasure hunts, great weather and a lot of fun for the kids! Father’s Day was spent at Rice Lake in North Vancouver for “Go Fish” family fishing day. It was a very positive and fun environment filled with families, and we gave out two Mustang Fisherman’s Vests to some very lucky boaters!

After that, we spent a few days doing on-water visits and courtesy checks. Keri and I reached hundreds of boaters, talking to people on the docks and water, as well as handing out safe boating kits! Stay tuned for more updates!

North American Safe Boating Week is well underway. There are events happening across the United States and Canada. Rear Adm. John P. Currier, Commander of the 13th US Coast Guard District (Pacific Northwest) taped a special boating safety public service announcement wearing a Mustang Survival inflatable PFD. You can see more of their videos on their YouTube page.

We’re having a Safe Boating Photo Contest and we want to see your pictures!

Whether you are a sailor, angler, paddler, cruiser or love any of the many other boating activities enter a picture of you, your family and friends enjoying the water while wearing your life jackets. Your picture could be featured within the Discover Boating program and you could win a family pack of Mustang Survival PFDs!

Entering is really easy, all you need to do is upload your photo to the Flickr free photo sharing website and add the tag SBPC2008. We are accepting entries until July 20th. We’ll announce 10 finalists in August when the public will have the chance to vote on their favorite.

Check out the contest page for full details!

Lifejackets have come a long way! They are no longer the big bulky bring orange life preservers from the past. Now they are sleek, comfortable and dare I say a little stylish.

Today, May 15th is Red Cross National Lifejacket Day in Canada and Mustang Survival is proud to partner with the Red Cross in
spreading their important boating safety message.

You even have a chance to win a family pack of lifejackets! Enter the contest on the Canadian Red Cross website today!