Capsized or Swamped: What to Do in the Water, and How to Keep It from Happening

The moment you surface, grab the boat or anything floating and count heads out loud. Call each person's name. If someone is missing, check the immediate area and the air pocket you can see from outside, but don't swim under the hull: lines, canvas and gear can trap you. Keep kids and weak swimmers holding onto the boat or an adult.

If you were already wearing life jackets, you're in the best position. BoatUS says its tests showed even modest waves make it very hard to put a life jacket on in the water, especially if you have to search for one first. If life jackets are floating loose, grab them and help each person get one on or hold one tight to their chest. Grab cushions, coolers and the throwable as extra flotation. The Coast Guard's message is to wear one every time, because there's rarely time to reach them in an accident.

The Coast Guard's advice, as reported by Soundings, is to stay with the boat even if it is taking on water, and to climb onto the hull if it capsizes. A Coast Guard Auxiliary officer quoted in the Coast Guard's boating safety column compares a person in the water to a basketball seen from a helicopter: an overturned hull is a much bigger target. Swim toward the boat only if it's drifting away from someone, and only a short distance.

Leave the boat only if staying is clearly more dangerous: it is on fire, it is being driven onto rocks or into breaking surf, or it is sinking completely. If it sinks, stay together.

Cold water steals body heat much faster than air. Climb onto the hull, the swim platform, or anything that floats, and huddle with others; the Coast Guard column notes that getting out of the water and huddling slows heat loss and the poor judgment that comes with it. If you can't get out:

• Keep your life jacket on and stay still with your legs pulled up to your chest, rather than swimming around.
• In a group, a Coast Guard spokesman quoted by Soundings advises gathering in a circle, linking arms and huddling with legs pulled up, which also makes you easier to see.

You may have heard "1 minute to control your breathing, 10 minutes of useful movement, 1 hour before hypothermia knocks you out." The National Center for Cold Water Safety calls this a myth that gives a false sense of time:

• The gasping and uncontrolled breathing of cold shock can last longer than one minute, and you can inhale water in that phase.
• Your strength and hand control fade steadily from the first minute, not suddenly at minute ten.
• Most people in cold water drown from incapacitation long before they become hypothermic.

What that means in practice: do the important things immediately (life jacket, grab the boat, get out of the water, signal), while your hands still work. Our cold-weather guide covers dressing for immersion.

• VHF: a waterproof handheld clipped to a life jacket is the most useful thing you can have. Call Mayday on channel 16 with your position, the number of people and "capsized" or "swamped." If it has a DSC distress button, use it.
• PLB or EPIRB: activate it and keep the antenna pointed at the sky. BoatUS describes a 2019 Gulf of Mexico capsize where an EPIRB from the overturned center console brought a Coast Guard response, and all three crew, wearing life jackets, were rescued.
• Phone: call 911 if you have a signal and the phone is in a waterproof pouch.
• Visual signals: flares, a signal mirror, a whistle (three blasts), a bright cloth or waving arms. The Coast Guard column suggests grabbing flares and distress signals you can reach without leaving the boat.
• Float plan: someone ashore who knows when you're overdue will start the search. Leave one every time.

Small dinghies and beach cats are designed to be righted, and sailors are taught to do it. US Sailing and Discover Boating describe the basics:

1. Make sure everyone is accounted for and holding the boat.
2. Free the sheets (and vang) so the sail can spill water.
3. One person climbs onto the centerboard, using a jib sheet to pull up if needed, keeping weight close to the hull, not on the tip of the board, which can break.
4. Lean back with feet near the base of the board, holding a sheet or the gunwale, and let the boat come up slowly.
5. In the "scoop" method, a second person lies in the cockpit on the low side and is scooped in as the boat comes up.

The guides note the boat comes up best with the mast pointing roughly into the wind; if the sail is on the upwind side, the boat may flip again as soon as it's righted. If the boat turns turtle (mast pointing down) and you can't right it, or anyone is tired or cold, stop trying, stay with the hull and signal for help. Practice capsize drills in warm water before you need them.

• Swamped but upright powerboat: stay with it. If the engine is underwater, don't try to restart it. Bailing a swamped boat in waves rarely works without a big pump; focus on staying with it and signaling. A tow service or the Coast Guard can deal with the boat later; see our submerged-engine and taking-on-water guides for after.
• Overturned powerboat: don't try to right it. Climb on the hull if you can do so safely.
• Canoes and kayaks: if you've trained in self-rescue and the water is warm and calm, you can flip and re-enter. Otherwise, hang on and get help.

Tell rescuers about anyone still missing and how many people were aboard. Anyone who was in cold water, swallowed water, or seems confused should get checked by medical responders, even if they feel fine. Federal rules require a boating accident report in many cases; see our accident report guide.

BoatUS's claims study shows weight is the main cause. Small boats are very sensitive to one extra person or another heavy cooler. Keep within the capacity plate (persons and weight), count underway seating positions, spread people evenly, and don't let everyone rush to one side. Weight up high (people standing, on a tower or upper deck) makes boats less stable; BoatUS notes anglers and hunters can tip a small boat just by standing. Our loading guide covers the math.

• Drain plug in before launch; BoatUS suggests tying the plug to the boat key. See our drain-plug guide.
• Livewell and bait-well fittings: BoatUS found several claims from cheap PVC fittings and livewells with no shutoff valve. Any fitting through the hull should close, and be stainless, bronze or Marelon.
• Low transoms: BoatUS warns older outboard boats with low transom cutouts can flood from stopping quickly, especially with weight in the stern.
• Cockpits that drain into the bilge depend on the bilge pump; bilge pumps remove nuisance water and won't keep a boat afloat.
• Repowering with a heavier four-stroke can add 10% to 15% more weight than an older boat was designed for, according to BoatUS, and let water back in through cockpit drains.

Check the marine forecast, watch the sky, and head in at the first sign of bad weather. If a squall catches you, BoatUS advises having passengers stay low near the middle of the boat and keeping the bow into the waves. In following seas (waves coming from behind), Boating Magazine advises adjusting speed to ride the back of the wave ahead, trimming the bow up so it doesn't bury, and avoiding surfing down a wave face, which can make the stern swing out and roll the boat. Don't let a breaking wave catch your stern. In big following seas, running at an angle (quartering) can help. Boating Magazine's own example: the captain waited offshore, running with the seas, until the tide slacked and the inlet calmed down enough to run in safely.