Follow
Two years ago, I spent a majority of the Summer teaching our oldest daughter how to properly drive and maintain our boat BOB.
We spent three months going over all of the do’s and don’ts in a boat. She learned how to drive, dock, start and stop the boat and was pretty good at it.
Early in September I announced she was going to be taking her “captains exam.” She had to do “everything” from the time we got there until the time we went home, it was up to her.
She drove the boat like a champ, through waves, calm waters and no wake zones. The Chain of Lakes has the ability to rattle the most seasoned boaters, not her, she had ice in her veins as we approached a very low, very narrow bridge.
As she concentrated on making it under the narrow passage, I stood up and yelled out to our son, “hey buddy check this out.” With that I grabbed the steel beam under the bridge and did a pull up, swinging my legs like Tarzan.
As my son began to laugh, I felt something I never would have predicted. My wedding ring was lodged between the beam and the bridge, I couldn’t get it out!
My daughter concentrating on guiding the boat, didn’t notice what was happening behind her. As I tugged and tugged, I realized that I was faced with the decision of ripping my finger off or doing a pull up and watching the boat disappear below me.
As the boat pulled away and I dangled from the bridge, it was my son screaming that got the attention of my daughter and wife. They looked back just in time to see me get my finger loose and fall from the bridge into the water! This of course made them both panic and crash the boat into the bridge.
It was chaos. Luckily for all of us, we ended up ok. The boat was going very slowly and bounced off the wall. I fell into the water, clear of other boats and was actually able to hitch a ride on another boat back to them.
Not my proudest moment. It was pure DAD stupidity and a case of “do as I say, not as I do.”
As Memorial Day kicks off the Summer season, we have complied a few tips for you to remember as we head to the beach, pools and boats. These are simple things to remember and can save your life as well as the lives of your family.
Watch your children
It only takes a child an average of 20 seconds to drown, according to water safety officials. Watch your children at all times when around the water. Don’t let them wander very far from the adults and never let them go into the water unless you know it.
Alcohol and water activities don’t mix
Alcohol is a leading contributing factor to fatal boating accidents, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Just one beer can impair balance, vision, judgment and reaction time. Research shows that about four hours of boating – with exposure to noise, vibration, sun, glare and wind – produces fatigue that simulates drunkenness. Boating fatigue combined with alcohol consumption intensifies the effects of both and increases accident risks.
Wear a Life Jacket! Take a Class!
In boating-related fatalities, 78 percent involve boat operators who had not received any boating safety instruction, according to U.S. Coast Guard statistics. In 2011, of the 758 recreational boating fatalities, nearly three-fourths were drownings, and 84 percent of those victims were not wearing life jackets. In 2011, the Coast Guard counted 4,588 accidents that involved 758 deaths, 3,081 injuries and approximately $52 million in damage to property as a result of recreational boating accidents.
Hydrate
Even if you are in or around the water, you can dehydrate in the heat. You are exerting yourself in the water and then drying off in the heat. Make sure to have water or a sports drink to re-hydrate.
Learn What Drowning Looks Like
Of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drowning’s, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC).
Coast Guard Captain Mario Vittono shared tips on his blog page about how to recognize when someone is drowning. It’s not what you would expect and recognizing the signs could be a life saver.
Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.
The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents). Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:
1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006 (page 14))
This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.
Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:
▪ Head low in the water, mouth at water level
▪ Head tilted back with mouth open
▪ Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
▪ Eyes closed
▪ Hair over forehead or eyes
▪ Not using legs – Vertical
▪ Hyperventilating or gasping
▪ Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
▪ Trying to roll over on the back
▪ Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.
It seems like a lot to read, but they are simple things that will keep your Memorial Day and Summer safe and accident free.
To read more of Mario Vittone’s tips, click here.
