Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 22/98) - As summer quickly approaches, sea-faring souls wait eagerly to hit the waves.

One watercraft growing in popularity in Yellowknife is the personal water vehicle. It's fast, it's fun and can be dangerous if used improperly.

"We haven't responded to any incidents. Fortunately, in the last couple of years marine emergencies have been not as frequent as they were in the past. The bulk of our emergencies have always pertained to watercraft, things like wind surfers," said Mike Lowing, Yellowknife's deputy fire chief.

"Personal watercraft -- we have not responded to any emergencies."

Lowing said water vehicles, such as Bombardier's Sea-Doo, are not as popular in the NWT and regular boats far outnumber personal craft. They may not be too common, but Lowing has some advice for those who do drive.

"I sort of equate them, Sea-Doos, to motorcycles and boats to cars and trucks. The problem is on a crowded road and at high rates of speed, no different than on roads, it's hard to see them and as a result, motorcycles can have a higher accident rate then cars and higher fatality rate because the machines afford less protection as boats and cars," said Lowing.

"With Sea-Doos and motorcycles they're exposed to impacts. From what we see coming out of literature down south, when impacts do occur there's a substantial injury rate for the operators of the personal water craft and higher rate of fatality."

Doug Witty, owner of Force One, a dealer of Yamaha water vehicles, said the market for them is small.

"We've sold a few of them over the years. I wouldn't think there's more than 20 of them in town," he said.

"They tend to be most popular as rentals. But it makes it a pretty tough rental season here with it only being really like an eight-week boating season. They're very expensive. They're about $8,000 to start. For $8,000 you can buy yourself a 16-foot fishing boat and 40-horse on it."

Most buyers are going for the boats right now but with a lot of miners coming to town and a lot of young guys, Witty said they might have a demand for it.

The entry level water vehicles do about 65 km/h (40 mph) and the top end do about 95 km/h (60 mph).

Stephen Sherburne, program co-ordinator for the NWT small boat safety awareness program with the Department of Transportation, said they do not have any statistics on incidents regarding the use of personal water craft in the NWT yet. There are, however, issues about its use.

"A lot of people tend to pull the old impaired thing when they're on recreational craft like this because it's high speed, it's fun, it's very portable," said Sherburne.

Most of the concerns with water vehicles have been with noise pollution and waterbank erosion because of the high waves and speed.

"The potential here for accidents is big, but it revolves around the experience of the user and a lot of it is common sense. Like if you don't know where you're going, don't go there fast," said Sherburne.

Meanwhile, thirteen people died in the NWT by drowning or in other preventable water-related deaths in 1996, according to the most recent statistics.

That's an increase of 30 per cent over 1995, according to the Lifesaving Society, Canada's lifeguarding experts.

By comparison, a typical year in the NWT sees three people killed from drinking and driving, a statistic that recently prompted the territorial minister of transportation to develop plans to tough relevant legislation.

People within the 18-34 age group comprise more than 40 per cent of all drowning victims in the NWT. The majority of victims are male.

"Count on hearing about males who've drowned and the story will probably involve a boat and alcohol, and no life-jacket," said Barbara Kusyanto, chief administrative officer of the Lifesaving Society.

Drowning is the second leading cause of preventable death in Canada for people under the age of 55.