Whatever floats your boat

The United States Coast Guard keeps track of boating fatalities on an annual basis. In 2012, the Coast Guard counted 4,515 accidents that involved 651 deaths. This fatality rate was 5.4 deaths per 100,000 registered recreational vessels, which includes everything from yachts to kayaks. The top five caused of accidents were collisions, swamping, ramming a fixed object, grounding and mishaps with water skiers.

By comparison, air crashes killed 475 people, or a rate of one in 45 million flights. During the same period, 1,739 fatalities occurred in the railroad industry. That's 2.38 fatalities per 1 million train miles. Also, in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, 29,757 people were killed in motor vehicle accidents, or 1.10 deaths per 100 million vehicle mile traveled. That's a lesser rate than gun violence, but not for long. Gun-related deaths are likely to exceed auto fatalities by 2015, according projections based on data compiled by Bloomberg News. Shooting deaths in 2015 will rise to 33,000, while those related to autos will continue to decline.

So if you're going boating, don't bring a gun, watch the skies for falling aircraft and be careful when you're driving to the marina. Otherwise, you should be fine. The Coast Guard doesn't keep track of nudity-related deaths on boats, so I assume you're OK there. Enjoy.

Ooops!

The grounding of the cruise ship Costa Concordia in January 2012, with the loss of 32 lives. The ship is being refloated and will be dismantled piece by piece for scrap.

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