Boating safety beyond camp.

When you conduct boating activities each summer do you consider life after camp?

Each year, capsizes and falls overboard rank as leading causes of boating-related deaths. The majority of those who die are not wearing personal flotation devices. Unlike campers and staff, recreational boaters do not have to wear PFDs; usually they don't. Therefore, instead of simply mandating that campers wear lifejackets, stress the National Safe Boating slogan, "A PFD won't work if you don't wear it."

Recreational boaters often stash PFDs under the foredeck or lash them to a thwart. Teach campers that even if a PFD isn't worn all the time, it can be donned in an emergency if the victim can grab it easily. For their future safety, campers should also be familiar with how PFDs affect their personal buoyancy, and those campers who are able should practice how to put on a lifejacket in the water.

Fitting PFDs

Too often children wear PFDs that are too large. To test the fit of a vest-type PFD, lift the child up by the jacket's shoulders. If the jacket slips up over the chin or ears, it is too big. For children who weigh less than 50 pounds, using a jacket with a crotch strap will help ensure correct fit. With a horseshoe-shaped PFD, pull up on the section behind the head. It's too big if the child's face slips through the horseshoe. Snugly secure all zippers, straps, and buckles. Make sure campers know how to select and wear PFDs properly - on their own.

Teaching skills

Those who teach camp boating know that once campers learn how to right sailboats, hand paddle canoes, or recover crew members who have fallen overboard, it's hard to keep them from "accidentally" practicing these skills. Recreational boaters, on the other hand, do not plan to get wet, yet it happens all the time: a fisherman leans out too far when reeling in a big one; two people stand up to switch positions and rock the boat causing each to fall over the side; a paddler on a canoe trip grabs an overhanging branch and flips the boat.

Knowing what to do in situations like these is crucial, but avoiding them in the first place is even better.

Teach campers:

* To keep a small boat stable, keep your shoulders inside the gunwales (sides of the boat) and your center of gravity as low as possible. When retrieving a lost piece of equipment, hand paddle instead of reaching too far beyond the sides of the boat.

* When moving about in a small boat, stay low and maintain three points of contact (either two feet and one hand, or two hands and one foot) at all times.

Also practice capsize recovery and sudden immersion in water. These skills should be stressed and practiced regardless of the age and ability level of campers. Even if a staff member is in the boat at all times, use the opportunity to make campers more "boat smart."

As coordinator of boating safety for the American Camping Association, I have met many individuals and groups who boat both as vocation and avocation. Invariably when I take a straw poll of paddlers, sailors, water skiers, or power boaters, half the people in any given group say they received their first taste of boating in a camp setting. From a survey conducted in 1992, we know that nearly three quarters of a million individuals participate in camp boating activities each year. A camp boating experience may be the only time many people receive on-the-water supervision or instruction. Camp is where safe practices should be introduced. Camp is where good habits can be developed. Even if the activity only consists of a ride around the lake on a pontoon boat, camp staff have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to impart knowledge and skills that may someday save a life.

RELATED ARTICLE: What are you teaching campers?

A recent survey of camp rowing programs revealed what camps are teaching in basic boating classes:

95% of camps answering the survey teach PFD selection and fit

80% teach maintaining 3 points of contact and a low center of gravity when boarding, debarking, and moving about the boat

77% teach what to do in case of capsize or swamping

61% teach self rescue (what to do if you fall overboard)

52% teach equipment selection

40% teach nomenclature

37% teach right of way rules

25% teach crew overboard recovery

22% teach how to put on a PFD in the water

12% teach about hypothermia causes and prevention

Survey of Camp Rowing Programs, American Camping Association, 1995