Al was distracted for just a moment. When he looked up he found his Jet Ski barreling straight towards a bridge piling. A hard turn to the left ejected him from his watercraft headfirst into the piling. Putting his hands out in front of him protected his head from impact but the cost was a compound fracture of his right forearm.
The concept of situational awareness has been part military and law enforcement training for decades and more recently has infiltrated the safety culture major corporations. Dr. Mica Endsley’s widely accepted definition of ‘situational awareness’ is “the perception of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future.”
On the water situational awareness means paying attention to what is going on around you. Notice how the wind and tide affect the movement of your boat, know the fish you catch and how to safely handle them, monitor the horizon for approaching storms and pay attention to the hundreds of other details the environment provides. Doing so will help you identify hazardous situations before they turn a fun day on the water into a dangerous one.
Situational awareness will also make you a better angler. The best anglers notice details that most people miss. They hear the splash of a feeding fish, see birds diving on bait, recognize a pattern of bubbles left by a recent fish strike and notice the many other fishy clues nature provides.
Paying attention to your surroundings and recognizing the signs will make your time on the water safer and more fun and productive.
— Paul MacInnis