Running Aground - Centurion Ri257 Owner's Manual

Emergencies
Set the engine throttles at idle and place the gear controls in the NEUTRAL
position immediately.
Throw a Type IV PFD to the victim immediately if the PFD will be within reach of
the victim. If the victim is too far away to throw a PFD to, navigate back and throw
the PFD from a safe distance. If a Type IV PFD is not readily available, any life
jacket or floating device will suffice.
Someone in your boat must keep the victim in sight at all times. It is the captain's
responsibility to assign one person to watch the victim.
Carefully navigate back to the victim, staying at a safe distance and position to
safely retrieve the victim.
Avoid going into the water to assist the victim unless there is absolutely no way to
retrieve the victim safely from your boat and there is no chance of endangering
others.

RUNNING AGROUND

When a boat runs aground, the stop is usually abrupt. Because passengers are
not secured to a seat, abruptly stopping a boat while in motion can cause serious
personal injury or even death. First, turn off the engine(s) immediately, locate all
passengers and attend to any injuries, calling for emergency assistance as
needed. Then, assess the damage to your boat and determine if there are any
other immediate threats such as water leaking into your boat, or fuel or flammable
materials leaking into the water or inside your boat. Immediately call for
assistance if threats exist that could endanger the safety of passengers.
If there are no immediate safety threats to passengers and your boat is not
damaged, attempt to propel it away from the obstacle. If the engine or drive
system has been damaged and the engine restarts, be aware of excessive
vibrations or uncommon noises, which usually indicate damage to the drive
system. If this is the case, it is not safe to proceed. Call for emergency or
professional towing assistance immediately.
WARNING! Use extreme caution when using tow lines and when connecting
tow lines to cleats. Death or serious injury could occur when lines and/or
cleats fail while they are under extreme tension.
If the engine restarts and your boat can be navigated back safely to port, proceed
slowly back to port and be ready to call for emergency assistance if needed. Even
if your boat and engine appear to be in good operating condition after running
aground, have the boat inspected by a qualified marine technician BEFORE
returning it to service. Damage may have occurred that is not obvious to you as an
operator.
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