The name is changed to protect the guilty. A friend told me of a time he was pond fishing alone. “Bob” hooked a good bass and in the confusion, swamped his canoe.
Fortunately, he did not hit his head on the craft, and was able to push canoe, paddle and assorted tackle to shore. He had a flotation seat cushion for legalities, but he was not wearing a life preserver (Personal Flotation Device or PFD) to indicate that he had good sense. Bob looks and is smarter than that ? most of the time.
His outcome was happy. Once home, Bob got a thorough and proper chastising from his wife, but suffered no serious damage. He did not drown.
It can be worse. In mid-May, Natural Resources Police responded to a boating accident on Deep Creek Lake in which the operator of a 23-foot Sea Ray struck the Route 219 bridge. Both occupants ended up in the hospital. Alcohol was listed as a contributing factor. And as with driving, boating and alcohol do not mix.
Sometimes greater tragedies occur. Newspapers each summer run stories after holiday weekends of overloaded jon boats or tin V-bottoms without enough PFDs on board. Often the outcome is several funerals.
All this can be avoided. Saturday, May 20th, Safe Boating Week begins (through May 26). It is just before the busy Memorial Day weekend and designed to caution boaters about having safe boating fun.
The basics are simple, according to Sgt. Ken Turner of the Maryland NRP. His big emphasis is on wearing a PFD and taking a safe boating course, such as those offered by the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Locate a course near you through www.dnr.maryland.gov/boating
. Successful completion is required of any boat operator born after July 1, 1972.
It is also important to have age-suitable PFDs. The law requires any child under age seven to wear a suitable PFD and any child under age four, or less than 50 pounds, to have an age-appropriate PFD with specific child-safety straps and features.
In 2004 there were 676 recreational boating fatalities nationwide. Approximately 70 percent of them were from drowning; 90 percent of those fatalities were from not wearing lifejackets.
In Maryland in 2005, there were 207 reportable boat accidents, 128 injuries and 14 fatalities. Of those 14 fatalities, ten were from drowning that would have been preventable by wearing a PFD.
That?s the best reason I know to wear a PFD and practice safe boating.
I guess Bob was luckier than he realized with his swamped canoe episode.
But the name has been changed to protect the guilty ? and the fortunate.
Let?s be careful out there.
C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally-known sportsman and award-winning writer on hunting, fishing and the outdoors, and he has more than 20 books to his credit. He can be reached at [email protected].
