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Jeff Johnson
Boating Law Administrator
Office of Boating Safety
550 W. 7th Ave, Suite 1380
Anchorage, AK 99501-3561
(907) 269-8705
(907) 269-8907 Fax
email to:
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Alaska has over 33,000 miles of coastline (more than the entire "lower 48" states put together), over 3,000 rivers, and more than 3 million lakes. Most of the state's 621,000 residents live in our 10 largest cities, but many others live miles from the road system in towns and villages spread along the coast and our interior rivers and lakes. From power boating and air boating to rafting, kayaking, and canoeing, Alaska's boating opportunities are as superlative as they are diverse. We certainly use boats to enjoy our world-class outdoor recreation resources, but our residents also use boats as an important means of transportation, and to support subsistence. Alaskans are truly "lifestyle" boaters.
Unfortunately, we also have one of the highest non-commercial boating fatality rates in the nation. In Alaska drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death. Accident statistics reveal that 3 out of 4 boating fatalities were the result of capsizing or falling overboard into cold water, where the boater was not wearing a life jacket. Most had not taken a single boating safety course.
In response, the Alaska Boating Safety Program was established within the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. In close cooperation with our partners, we provide boating education programs that promote safe, enjoyable boating in Alaska.
Click here for more information on the Alaska Boating Safety Program
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 In a state where capsizing and falls overboard into cold water account for the majority of boating deaths, the State of Alaska saw an obvious need to educate boaters on how to prepare for, avoid, and how to survive a cold water immersion event. Research published within the last 10 years has revealed that there is more to cold water immersion than hypothermia.
"The hope is that if Alaskans better understand the causes and effects of cold water immersion, we can improve behaviors and save lives" said Jeff Johnson, Alaska's Boating Law Administrator.
The State recruited experts in the field of cold water immersion and video production, Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, Dr. Alan Steinman, and Ted Rankine, for the project. Dr. Giesbrecht, the world's leading authority on freezing to death, believes the best way to study the effects of cold on the human body is to get intimate with the elements. Along the way to claiming numerous research firsts, the 45-year-old physiologist and director of the University of Manitoba's Laboratory for Exercise and Environmental Medicine has lowered his body below 95 degrees, the threshold for hypothermia, a mind- and body-numing 40 times.
"I'm the scientist who does things for real," he says, "to make sure I really know what I'm talking about." Dr. Giesbrecht has produced three educational videos for the Discovery Channel, been a keynote speaker for multiple organizations and appeared on the David Letterman Show.
Dr. Steinman is an expert in maritime medicine with particular emphasis on sea survival, drowning and hypothermia. He has served as Surgeon General (Director of Health and Safety) for the U.S. Coast Guard, medical advisor to the Coast Guard's Chief of Operations and as a rescue physician on numerous Coast Guard search and rescue missions.
Ted Rankine is past Chair of the Canadian Safe Boating Council, has been an active member of the Canadian Power Squadrons, and has produced several educational videos as well as hosting a weekly boating show.
"This video describes depicts actual in-water situations, and provides practical and relevant information for Alaska's boaters, but also for anyone who boats on cold water", said Joe McCullough, Education Coordinator and the project manager.
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