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LIFE JACKETS IMPORTANT? READ THESE.
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Novenmber 25, 2003. Dave Kutz, author and publisher of The Burgee book and an officer in RBAW, the Recreational Boating Association of Washington, sent this e-mail, and we're repeating it here just as it came in. We found it instructive, and feel our visitors might find it instructive, too.
I am on a CHB Trawler Boat e-mail discussion group and thought these few anecdotal stories might be of interest to those of you involved in boating safety and PFD usage.
Thanks,
David Kutz
1st VP, Recreational Boating Association of Washington
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From: Sandy Floe
To: cHB@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2003 11:11 AM
Subject: [CHB] Safety and kids
If you have little ones around your trawler, here is something to think
about.
Last summer we had our little one aboard for our long cruise. We have a policy of always having her wear her lifejacket when outside of the cabin. We even make her wear it when leaving the boat to spend all day shopping. We thought about just holding her hand for the walk up the dock, so we wouldn't have to carry the life jacket all over town, but decided against that.
In Sitka we had got off the boat and she was standing right beside me. We were waiting for the rest of the "crew" to get off the boat when she stepped back and fell feet first into a piling hole. (This is the hole where the piling goes through the opening in the dock.) She was being held from disappearing through the hole into the water by her lifejacket! The lifejacket was just large enough to increase her diameter to keep her from vanishing.
Upon looking at the situation when my nerves calmed down, I saw that she definitely would have slipped through the hole between the pile and the dock if she had not had her jacket on. Then it would have been extremely difficult to get to her under that dock. In our home marina with side to side boathouses it would be impossible to rescue her in time. In other marinas I have since looked at, there is sometimes room enough for a fairly good sized kid to fit through those holes.
So this Christmas put a kid's lifejacket or two on your shopping list. They come in handy for more than originally designed. Ours did.
Sandy and Dawna Floe
Sea Eagle
Day Island, WA
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From: ART GUY
Date: Friday, November 21, 2003 3:39:52 PM
To: cHB@yahoogroups.com; Sandy Floe
Subject: Re: [CHB] Safety and kids
Dear Sandy,
Somewhat related, we just had an incident in our harbor regarding a 55 year
old man that fell into the water while attempting to get from his tender to the dock. It was late at night and the water is cold (less than 60 degrees). To make a short story long, he apparently removed his jacket after hitting
the water (the sleeves were turned inside out when the jacket was pulled from the water, and he had removed his wristwatch and placed it on the dock) Needless to say, he was unable to pull himself out of the water. They found
his body the next day, under the boat in the slip next to his. In this case, he had been drinking since my friends were the last to see him alive the night before. Two things are important; first of all, please wear your PFD
(personal flotation device) even when taking a short ride in the harbor in your tender, not to mention at all times when on deck with the boat underway 2nd, drinking and boating are a tough mix. Please don't drink while
underway and watch your consumption at anchor or at the dock. The number of alcohol related boating accidents and deaths in this country is staggering. As active members in Search and Rescue with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary,
it is mandatory that we wear our pfd's at all times underway, unless we are in confined spaces such as the cabin. Even then, our pfd's are always within reach. My wife and I have gotten so used to wearing them, that we feel
uneasy without them on when we are out for recreational purposes.
All my best,
Capt. Art, Coxswain,
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary,
Station Channel Islands, CA.
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 15:50:03 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time)
From: "John and Joan Johnson Barker"
Subject: Re: Safety and kids and dogs, too!
Our dog fell between the finger pier and the boat when boarding the boat one day. We got him out in pretty short order, fortunately, but the fact that he was WAY under the boat and almost beyond reach in such a short time was alarming. The experience made him a lot more cautious about embarking and debarking (although not about barking) since then.
Joan Barker
Sea Change, CHB 37'
Shilshole Bay Marina, Seattle
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Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2003 11:20:46 -0800
From: Roy Phillips
Subject: Re: Safety and kids
We just lost a 52-year-old sailor in Semiahmoo, a Boeing engineer who was washing his boat on a Saturday afternoon as some friends were coming to go sailing with him.
He somehow slipped on the deck and hit his head, either on his own boat or on the dock, as he fell in. He was found face down in the water, unconscious. The other people on the dock were gone at one time for just 15 minutes that busy afternoon, and it was during those 15 minutes that he had the accident. He was wearing only a pair of trousers when found. A neighbour found him beside his bow, and jumped in and tried resucitation. The neighbor had a hard time getting either the victim or himself out of the water, and cracked his own head on the dock too. They got the victim's heart going, but he was in a coma he never recovered from. He was too long without oxygen. He left a wife and a seven-year-old child. A life jacket may have saved his life by turning him over, face-up.
The moral of this unfortunate story: Accidents, by definition, happen when you don't expect them. Wear a life jacket at all times, on the dock or on the boat (the new automatic braces-type jackets are unobtrusive, so could be worn all the time). That rule should apply to adults as well as kids. Kids will do what adults do.
Roy Phillips
Sea Rider 34 CHB tricabin
Semiahmoo, WAv
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