What is Save It For The Shore?
Save It For The Shore is an Alaskan campaign to encourage boaters to save the drinking until they’re back on dry land. This campaign was started by us—the Alaska Boating Safety Program—in 2021. We realized our efforts to influence Alaskans through social media were limited unless we found a way to partner with those who have a bigger reach and impact. We love Alaskan breweries—who doesn’t?? So we reached out to ask for help and we have been blown away by the support and willingness to help encourage Alaskans to make safe choices while recreating on the water.
Did you know?
Contrary to popular belief, boating and drinking do not mix. Here are some facts:
Alcohol is the leading contributing factor in fatal boating incidents nationwide. In Alaska, alcohol is a known factor in at least 37% of our recreational boating fatalities over the last 30 years.
A boat operator is likely to become impaired more quickly than a driver, drink for drink.
Research by the U.S. Coast Guard has shown that alcohol use by passengers or operators increases the risk for everyone on board.
Operating a vessel with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher is against the law. In Alaska, the laws that pertain to drinking and driving are the same laws that pertain to boat operators, with the same penalties for a conviction. Even small, non-motorized boats like canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards are considered vessels, and anyone paddling one is considered a boat operator.
Sun, wind, noise, vibration and motion— “stressors” common to the boating environment—intensify the effects of alcohol, drugs, and some medications. Hours of exposure to boating stressors can produce a kind of a fatigue, or "boater's hypnosis," which slows reaction time almost as much as if you were legally drunk.
Alcohol use can impair a boater’s judgment, balance, vision, and reaction time. U.S. Coast Guard data shows that in boating deaths involving alcohol use, over half the victims capsized their boats and/or fell overboard.
After you’ve been in cold water for a few minutes, your body begins a process called vasoconstriction, moving warm blood from your arms and legs back towards your core to protect your organs. As long as you’re wearing a life jacket, this process could be what saves your life. But alcohol is a vasodilator—if you have been drinking, your body cannot respond to the cold water as it should, so your survival time decreases.
