Coast Guard shrinks passenger boat capacities as waistlines expand

[TimeTraveller]

Some of the local news stations have been reporting this story, and it's a sign of the times. The US Coast Guard will officially lower passenger boat capacity numbers by 15% because the average weight per person has increased 15% since 1960. It's hard to dispute that, but it also probably means passenger fares may increase to try to make up the difference.

I don't know whether to be happy or sad, but I tend to look on the bright side of life. First, my life has coincided with some of the biggest weight gains in our nation's history. That means the more I learned to appreciate fat women, the fatter they became — most dramatically my supersize wife who quintupled her weight as she grew up and out from about 80 pounds when we met in 2nd grade to about 400 pounds today. Second, she is totally worth any extra cost to maintain her in the style to which she is accustomed, whether it's boat fares, cars, household furniture, clothes, shoes, fine dining etc. :smitten:

Getting back to boats, one of the Chicago boat operators mentioned in this article, “There have been past incidents [on passenger boats] and we want to ensure our boats are stable for everyone’s safety.” The last time my wife & I took a sightseeing cruise on Lake Michigan was about a decade ago. The boat was full, capacity maybe 100, and so many midsize and supersize passengers were aboard that it listed just a bit when everybody crowded along the rail to take photos of various landmarks. The pilot made announcements a few times to warn people not to cluster to one side all at once. That scared us a little, but most of the fat jostling for position was of the feminine variety in summer clothes so it was a major turn-on for me to see and feel the very real impact of all that weight shifting. They may be trying to avoid that kind of thrill ride, but I say bring it on!

Nowadays we do most of our aquatic sightseeing on large cruise ships where capacity is more than enough and the staff actually tries to make thousands of passengers fatter every week. However a few months ago we did take small (capacity 50) sightseeing boats in Belize and in Fort Lauderdale. Luckily they weren't full so passenger weight wasn't a problem, and besides my supersize wife let me scamper around taking the photos.

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=184222

Passengers on Chicago tour boats may notice fewer people on board in the next few years.

Coast Guard shrinks passenger boat capacities as waistlines expand
Medill Reports - Chicago, Northwestern University

by Jane M. Wolkowicz
April 06, 2011

The U.S. Coast Guard has announced it is lowering capacity numbers on all passenger boats for the first time since 1960.

The Coast Guard says the changes reflect the average passenger’s weight on board, which is growing by the year, and might end up affecting the stability of the ship. But with the country facing the worst obesity epidemic in history, health experts are concerned that lowering numbers on passenger ships is only the beginning of a series of growing standards geared to reflect a fatter American public.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Lisa Novak says the decision to lower capacity numbers came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the average weight for a person in the United States has gone up 25 pounds in the past 50 years, from an average of 160 pounds in 1960 to 185 pounds today. She says updated weight to passenger ratios will better reflect this growing trend.

“People are heavier today,” says Novak. “We needed to update the regulations to ensure continued safety and stability on all passenger boats.”

Toby Smithson, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, wasn’t surprised to hear that the Coast Guard had issued lower capacity numbers, considering the number of obese adults she works with daily. Just recently, she started noticing products such as extra-wide deck chairs for sale and larger chairs at her doctor’s office, both of which she considers red flags.

“Registered dieticians have their work cut out for them,” Smithson says, “People really need to rely on nutrition experts to get back to the time when Americans weighed less.”

All passenger boats, including tour boats, water taxes and other ferries, need to send updated capacity certificates to the Coast Guard by Dec. 1, when the new regulations go into effect. While a 16,000-pound vessel can now carry 100 passengers, under the new regulation it can take 86.

Capt. Bill Russell is in charge of safety for Chicago Line Cruises, which offers a popular architecture and historical cruise tour. He says that Chicago Line Cruises will not update its passenger capacities for this summer, but plans to conduct a series of stability tests in the fall to determine new capacities. Stability tests involve filling massive containers with water and positioning them at different points on a ship to stimulate passenger weight.

“I think the updated regulations are a good idea,” Russell says “There have been past incidents [on passenger boats] and we want to ensure our boats are stable for everyone’s safety.”

Although Chicago dietician Monique Ryan recognizes the necessity of the new Coast Guard weight regulations, she hopes capacities won’t have to be lowered again in upcoming years.

“From a health perspective, we can’t afford to keep going in this direction,” Ryan says.

 

[Adrian]

 

[user 2069]