Boats tie up at the 2007 Seafair log boom. At least 70 were arrested for suspicion of boating under the influence (BUI) that weekend, and in 2006, law enforcement processed 130 BUIs during the three-day event. But boaters still want more enforcement of Washington’s BUI law, which sets a blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 percent.

Washington boaters want cops and park patrols to reign in reckless and wrecked boaters. More than three-fourths of the more than 3,000 boaters polled in a recent survey say State Parks and local law enforcement should work harder to control boaters under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Access is another major concern, according to the recent Washington State Boaters Survey and analysis by Responsive Management, a Harrisburg, Va., research firm that specializes in outdoor recreation. Eight in ten respondents said increasing access to waterways is an important spending priority. Fewer than seven in 10 said the same about increased patrolling.

“While education and enforcement were important,” says Response Management Executive Director Mark Damian Duda, “access was what set Washington apart.”

“Access was in the very general term of everything to get them to the water,” says Duda, meaning everything from launch ramps to marinas.

“Being able to get in and out of the water, that’s number one,” says Jim Eychaner, a senior outdoor resource planner for the state’s Recreation and Conservation Office. “What struck me was how both the boating public at large and boating service providers agree on what’s being done well and what’s important,” he says, “Law enforcement, access, safety-education.”

The survey began with state legislative action, and, in turn, its results will guide future public policy, says Eychaner. Last year lawmakers approved bill 1651, which commissioned the survey and broadly outlined how a $2 million Boating Activities Fund should be spent. This year Eychaner will analyze the results of the survey and present his findings to state officials, who will spend the fund.

Responsive Management has conducted similar surveys in other states, but in Washington, says Duda, concerns about getting on the water surpassed what he has seen before. Alcohol and drug misuse, on the other hand, appear to be no bigger problem in the Northwest than elsewhere.

That said, 76 percent of respondents wanted more cooperation between State Parks and local law enforcement to control boaters under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They also judged drugs and alcohol to be the leading cause of boating accidents, with 60 percent saying alcohol is to blame for them, though only eight percent had actually been in an accident or mishap on Washington waters.

“Just because you haven’t put your hand in the stove to burn doesn’t mean you don’t know it could,” says Duda. “People know what the causes of accidents are…alcohol and [not using a] personal flotation device.”

Nearly all of the Washingtonians surveyed owned a boat and more than half had a motorboat between 16 and 26' long. Even outside of boating, water-goers had many similarities. More than nine in 10 of the sample were male and most lived with another adult and no kids. Eighty-five percent were white, and most had been to college.

“The vast majority of Washington boaters (91 percent) were satisfied with their boating in Washington in the past two years, with most of them being very satisfied; only 7 percent were dissatisfied,” reports Responsive Management. And “those who operated/used a sailboat exclusively in the past two years were more likely than were operators/users of personal watercraft and other motorboats to be very satisfied.”