COAST GUARD ISSUES WARNING FOR HOLIDAY.

Byline: Jeremy Bagott Staff Writer

In preparation for the nation's deadliest weekend on the water, the Coast Guard and other national agencies are warning recreationists that drinking and boating don't mix.

Sixty people could die on American waterways this Fourth of July holiday weekend, according to estimates by the Boat Owners Association of the United States. Statistics compiled by the U.S. Coast Guard indicate about 30 percent of those fatalities will involve alcohol.

While safety-equipment failure, changes in weather, rough water and faulty boat design play a part, the majority of boating deaths are attributed to such intangibles as operator judgment, awareness and behavior.

Lt.j.g. Ken O'Connor of Coast Guard Station Long Beach will pull his first stint as command duty officer on a July 4 weekend, but he's confident in the station's ability to handle any incidents or rescues from Morro Bay to San Clemente and out 200 nautical miles.

``I'm cautiously optimistic,'' he said.

According to figures compiled by the National Safe Boating Council, most fatal accidents in small boats over the past several years have been caused by falls overboard or capsizings. Very few boating accidents involve vessels colliding.

More than half of these deaths did not occur in bad weather. They happened during calm conditions on small, inland bodies of water in boats measuring less than 16 feet long, when passengers reached too far over the gunwale or while standing up to net a fish.

In boating accidents among youths, the statistics get more grim.

According to a recent report from the state Department of Boating and Waterways, operator inexperience was a factor in 84 percent of accidents involving boaters aged 17 and under. By comparison, the same cause was attributed in 41 percent of accidents involving boat operators of all ages.

Of the five youths involved in fatal accidents in California in 1998, three were 15 or younger and two of those three were on vessels that had no adult aboard.

For more information on safe boating, call the Alexandria, Va.-based Boat Owners Association of the United States at [phone] or visit its Web site, www.boatus.com, which offers a free boating safety self-test course with more than 50 multiple choice questions.