Watching the news this morning and saw that there were 3 drowning victims yesterday. All of them were adults, which means they should have known better. Because they were swimming in waters without lifeguard present, it's all on them for drowning.

Rule one, don't be a "tough guy" when it comes to swimming, be a wimp and either swim in water you know quite well you can stand in, use a life vest, or make sure that you have a buddy watching with a life vest on hand if you get in over your head.

Rule Two, if you are swimming off a boat, make sure to have a line tied to the boat and attached to you. One of yesterdays drownings was a 46 year old in the Detroit river, which has a 6 mph current. That's a fast enough current that an Olympic class swimmer would find it a bit challenging to make headway against it. It must have been pretty awful for his wife and children to watch Dad float away in the current because he was too proud to tie himself off to the boat.

Rule three, respect the water temperatures at this time of the year. Frankly, I don't understand why anyone would want to do any swimming this time of year, I suspect that water temps around here are still in the low to mid 60's, which is too damned cold for me. Low water temps can sap your stamina VERY quickly, so when the water is cold get out before you get in trouble.

Good tips.
I grew up swimming in the Warrior river and Dad always made us wear at least a ski belt. He said we might still drown but at least he could find our body.

Every year, people drown in the Delaware River up here. It looks calm, but there's a deep wickedly fast channel. Delaware 'is not a swim club' | recordonline.com

http://www.nps.gov/upde/parknews/fif...ware-river.htm

Well, down here in the South were the Gulf (OIL) temp is 82 degrees we have had 3 or 4 deaths in the last week..

Reasons: Alcohol, excessive speed and not wearing a PDF. I don't care how good a swimmer you are. I was a lifeguard in my younger days. When going 40 tp 50 mph in a flats boat and you fall out without a life jacket your chances are not good.!

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

Few years back I was in a kayak on Lk Tahoe. Water temp was in the low 40's.

A bunch of kids in a ski boat damned near RAN OVER ME . Their wake swamped me. I was 40 to fifty yds from shore.

I have done drills in my kayak practicing getting back in the boat...but never in water that cold. Had I not had on a PFD I really think I would have become one of those statistics that day.

COLD water , strong currents, lack of a PFD, alcohol use...Simply STUPID.

FN in MT

Be aware of other boaters. Be it a speedboat, kayak, or barge.

Recently at a near by lake there was an accident where a man was driving his brand new boat and somehow crashed into the side of a small, slow moving barge. The man on the barge was waving frantically trying to get the boaters attention. Unfortunately the boater's daughter was not wearing a PFD and drowned. The man and his son were in the hospital for some time.. still may be.

__________________
- The Federalist #46 -

The rivers are up here in Missouri, and we have had several drownings already. I know the water HAS to be chilly, and alcohol will impair your judgment as to safety and common sense. That, and "showing off" lead to many deaths and severe injuries, especially with the rivers in near-flood stages.

Darwin was right. It is proven every day! Removes bad DNA from the gene pool to help promulgate our species.

We've had a couple deaths on this side of the state too. One a father fell off his boat while out with his daughter, he wasn't wearing a PFD. The other was a boater running up the Grand River, at night, at a high speed, and no lights. He ran into some concrete on bank. The concrete won.

Recent reports say that AZ is in the top five rankings of boating deaths, despite having no ocean frontage and limited waterways. Having just spent the Memorial Day weekend at Apache Lake, I'm surprised we aren't in first place. This artificial impoundment fills a narrow, steep-walled canyon, hardly anywhere more than a quarter mile wide, only 16 miles from dam-to-dam, which is whipped into a white froth by inane, insane operators of jet-skis, wake-board boats, jet-boats, runabouts, huge offshore cigarette style racers, ski boats, pontoon party boats, cabin cruisers out of all proportion to the modest size of the lake. All racing back and forth in some crazed, thundering, snarling, showing-off, orgy of conspicuous consumption. It's no wonder that this gasoline-fueled, alcohol-lubed mayhem ends up tragically all too often.

BTW, I spent a pleasant few days in a quiet campsite, back in a cove too shallow for most vessels, observing unusual avifauna, and immersing myself in the water, occasionaly, and in a Cormac McCarthy novel, mostly.

Timely advice. Every year....we have oodles of public service anouncements regarding water temperatures and currents....and every year a select few fail to give the rivers and lakes the respect they warrant with predictable results.

Brian~

Good tips. When I was younger I used to think nothing of jumping off the boat on a hot summer's day for some relief from the heat. Now I won't go in water over my head w/o some sort of flotation on me. Lake Michigan is up to 54 degrees F now (and we've had record breaking high temperatures the past few weeks) Hypothermia sets in almost instantly at that temperature.
When I used to overnight sailboat race on the Great Lakes we would joke that the only reason one would wear a life jacket is so that the body could be found if you went overboard.

If you have kids watch out, they can go down fast. This weekend my wife and two kids and myself spent the weekend at our cabin on a slow clear Missouri river. At the deepest where we were it was probably six feet. My oldest and I went up the river so he could swim with a kid his age. It was myself, the other kids parents, my son (6), and their two kids (6 and 3). While the two six year olds were swimming (with life jackets), the three year old was goofing around with a fishing pole about twenty feet away (with no life jacket). The little bugger slipped on loose gravel and in seconds was underwater. As I was closest I made a mad dash toward him and pulled him out of the water sputtering and crying. What amazed me was how fast it happened and how long it took me to make it twenty feet through the water. This happened Saturday and it still gives me chills writing about it.

Please please watch those kids around water.

There is no reason to not know how to swim. I don't care how far you live from water, or how old you are, learn to swim. We've seen babies learn to swim before they can walk. A kid, in my old neighborhood, drowned in a pond when he fell off a styrofoam crate he was floating on. There's no sense in a tragedy like this. By the time a child is in the 1st grade, they should know how.

__________________
Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Another safety tip for the guys out there. Don't urinate over the side. Statistics show that in 70% of all male (boating), drownings the victim is found with his fly open. Use the head, porta potti or a bucket to stay safe.