Historic Round Boat Highlights NY Sea Grant Clean and Safe Boating Tips for 2016 Boating Season

Oswego, NY.  Is it a spaceship? An amusement park ride? No, it is an historic 7-foot round boat, and it is the New York Sea Grant Discover Clean and Safe Boating educational vessel for 2016. "This boat catches everyone’s eye and draws people in to hear the message about wearing a life jacket, being prepared for a sudden emergency on the water, and practicing clean, safe and environmentally-friendly boating on New York waters," says David G. White, coastal recreation and tourism specialist with New York Sea Grant Extension, Oswego, NY. White, the New York State Boating Educator of the Year in 2015, developed the Discover Clean and Safe Boating campaign in 2008 in partnership with the Boating Industries Association of Upstate New York trade group. Each year BIA members provide a different type of vessel for the educational campaign that travels to events and venues statewide to engage public interest in water safety and environmentally-friendly boating practices. The round boat, a Circraft dating to the early 1970s, was donated for use with the 2016 educational tour by Burke’s Marina, Raquette Lake, NY.