Water Safety Fundamentals

[Beavah 205]

Well, I pretty much disagree with your line of thought Beavah. Not unusual... Is it "growing up" if you end in the bottom of the pond?

 

I didn't say anything about "growing up". Nor did anybody else. Perhaps you're mixin' up this thread with something else.

 

Can I ask what your personal experience and formal training is with aquatics? We've got a bunch of certified lifeguards and water safety and canoe instructor specialists hangin' around here.

 

Kinda like visiting the doctor, eh? Yeh don't have to take the doc's advice if yeh don't want to. But if you're goin' to dismiss the advice of folks with more training and experience in an area than you have, just be honest about what you're doin'. Especially with Mrs. Engineer61; she deserves accurate reportin'.

 

A Boy Scout in a properly fit PFD on a closed private pond followin' all da other provisions of Safety Afloat will be just fine. In fact, we do that sort of thing with Cub Scouts, eh? Real little tikes.

 

Now, might be that yeh live in a part of da country where water activities aren't that common. Around here, we've got thousands of lakes and rivers and such. So adjust to your area as yeh see fit, and then remember that da life of a parent is overcoming our own fears for our kids a lot of da time.

 

Beavah

 

 

[Eagle92 110]

Have to agree with Beavah, CS who are classified as non-swimmers, or in my son's case never took a test, can go rowing in a rowboat with an adult swimmer. Did that this past April, he wanted to go rowing, not archery or BB guns, at a council event. Lots of lifeguards present, BSA NCS certified Aquatics Director present, and I know a few ex lifeguards were around. Tiger Cub son had his PFD on and off we went.

 

Only time I saw any rescues being made that weekend were during the swim tests. Shepards hook and LGs in the the pool handled it.

[shortridge 184]

Beavah: You said "growin' up," which is indeed technically different from "growing up."

[evmori 11]

Not so....my Scout was permitted to work on his Canoeing MB without regard to the fact of the Scout's swimming ability.

 

This statement makes me scratch my head. It seems, Engineer61, you were not present so to make this statement without being there is wrong. What part of the Canoeing MB was your son working on? It isn't all done in the water. What is your son's swimming ability? If a life jacket is properly worn, it works very well.

[packsaddle 753]

Outside of scouting, my teaching involves taking dozends of students into the field at a time, in canoes and larger watercraft. I always ask if they can swim and the non-swimmers are carefully watched. But, like Beavah says, this is on flatwater with up to a dozen canoes on a relatively small lake (100 acres) and no complicating factors. I have one non-swimmer right now and on his first outing a couple of days ago he nearly broke the seat, gripping it so strongly with his hands. By the end of the day, he was relaxed and we were working together nicely. Moreover, he is now taking a strong interest in learning how to swim so he can stop listening to my singing and get into another canoe.

 

I have seen plenty of cases where lifejackets have failed to save people who were not wearing them. If worn properly, on a lake, if there is a fatality it probably won't be the fault of the jacket.