Be safe on the water
Floating the Illinois River can be fun, but caution is also needed.
This little story goes back a ways, but it may help illustrate a point.
When I was younger, I was on a group float trip on the Illinois River. Me and another guy were in a canoe, with me in front and my partner in back. If you know anything about canoes, the person in the back of the boat is the one who steers. The person in front can help power the boat, but doesn’t have a whole lot of control of where the boat is going.
So we’re cruising down the river and in front of us is a canoe with a man and two boys. The man’s canoe is pinned between the current and a log.
The current is also taking us straight toward the canoe ahead. Unfortunately, my partner freezes, expects me to steer (not realizing that’s his job) and we T-bone the canoe. Canoes aren’t the most stable of boats, so as you might expect the man and his two boys get dumped over.
Now for the scary part. One of the boys is now a couple feet underwater, trapped between our boat and the log. And he’s panicking. I reached down, grabbed the kid’s shirt and pulled him up. He coughs a bit, but is otherwise fine. Tragedy averted.
So why do I tell this story? Because there are a lot of times where people get on the lake or in the rivers and the story does not end so well. Sometimes it’s an issue of preparation (life vests, for example) or human error (drinking while boating, swimming in non-swimming areas, being unfamiliar with proper boating techniques, or taking unneccessary risks). And then there’s overestimating your abilities on the water.
I mentioned my canoeing partner, but I’ve been guilty of this before, too. Last year, I jumped off a 25-foot cliff into the ocean. The seas were pretty rough, and my swimming skills were not up to snuff. I nearly drowned.
The fact is, we’re land animals. We’re designed to walk and live on land, but we’ve learned ways to navigate the water through swimming and use of boats. But it doesn’t change the fact that our bodies were designed for land and when given the alien conditions of water, everything changes. So please be sharp, be prepared, stay sober and be realistic about your boating and swimming skills. Summer is a great time of year, and a lot of fun can be had on Oklahoma lakes and rivers through swimming, water skiing, boating, floating and hopping on a personal watercraft. But one bad slip-up can turn a good day bad in a hurry.
Here’s a pretty good link that gives more tips on water safety:
http://watersafety.usace.army.mil/safetytips.htm
Bob Doucette
Stay safe and have fun! (Photo provided by the Oklahoma Dept. of Tourism)
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