When going out on the water, whether on your boat or a friend's boat, safety is the most important consideration. As Jen and I say frequently, "Safe fun is good fun". It doesn't have to be an obstacle. Just ensure you have a few essentials, and you can have most of your bases covered. 

The first is protection from the sun. There are many ways to accomplish this. You can regularly apply sunscreen, but we prefer wearing hats and UV-protected clothing. Since we were full-time cruisers and taking sailor showers, we felt sunscreen was a better secondary option. We wore these sunshirts most days out on the water, and these sunshirts we wear almost every day hiking. We also applied a daily sunscreen moisturizer to our faces to safeguard them from water reflections. 
Next, you'll want to ensure you have an appropriately sized anchor and chain. A few times while cruising, we had to drop our anchor in an emergency, and having a reliable anchor, allowed us to focus on the pressing issue. We've also anchored in very tight anchorages in intense storms, having a good anchor lets us sleep without worrying that we were going to drag to shore or another boat. To find the proper anchor for your boat, consider where you will be anchoring most often and your vessel's weight. Here's why we chose our Mantus M1, which we nicknamed "AGNIS", aka A Good Night's Sleep.
Lastly, ensure you have the federally required essentials for safe cruising. We highly recommend getting a safety check from the US Coast Guard Auxiliary every year. They will walk through your vessel and note your life jackets, fire extinguishers, navigation lights, distress signals, and more. If you pass, you'll get a sticker showing your boat has passed inspections. We ensured we did this every year, and it was a huge peace of mind to have a professional review of our boat's safety systems. During our first safety check, they alerted us that our fire extinguishers were about to go out of date - something we didn't think to check ourselves and helped to keep us safe. Read about our boat, Pivot and all the safety systems we had onboard, here.

At the end of the day, safe boating gear is only secure if you use it, not if it's stored away in a hard-to-reach location. Next time you head out on the water, go through your safety systems and ensure they are in good condition and accessible. If you're interested in our full list of must-have boating gear, here's the full breakdown. Safe cruising!