"almost none wore life vests"

[mete]

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376361,00.html Mass Darwinism ! Very sad story but even here on the fairly calm Delaware river most losses are due to lack of life vests. Of course many on the river can't swim which is not smart either.

 

[tonym]

That sucks!:thumbdn:

It was run by state officials and still no one wore lifevests, real smart

I fish many calm lakes, and I always have a life vest with me, you never know.

 

[zman308]

We live on a river and I watch tubers, kayakers and canoers come down in class 2 to 3 waters at peak flows with no PFDs. I have seen a few rescues in 5 knot currents with bozo's in their trunks hanging on to a canoe. Usually they are drunk and bought their tubes at K-mart. My wife and I during peak flow overturned in the rapids and lucky we had our vests on. The canoe kept going and if it had not been for the trailing rope we wound not have caught the canoe. A gereat number of drownings here on the Great Lakes involve booze and no PFD. There are dozens of styles of PFD's that make them comfortable in all situations.

 

[Stainz]

The radio reports stated that some of the dead were recovered from the tube feeding the turbines. How insane is it to canoe near a hydro-plant's inlet? I doubt a life-vest - or any flotation device, for that matter - would have helped. They were probably sucked under and held against the inlet screen, sad to say. It would have been sensible to open their spillways, to relieve the unfinished dam's pressure, rather than freewheel it through the turbine. Poor planning - operator error - in the canoe and at the dam - led to their loss.

I agree re flotation devices being required vs folks wearing vests. They never think it will happen to them. I nearly became a 'statistic' in my own sailboat many years ago. I leaned across the cockpit to get a glass of iced tea from my wife who was in the cabin. My 'tiller buddy' was off - and I brushed the tiller, changing our running attitude. The boom came across - and I found out why it is called a 'BOOM!' - it knocked me out, and I dropped into the cockpit floor. I could have gone over just as easily. I came to moments later, my friend's wife screaming her head off. I sat up, redirected the sails, and acted like nothing had happened - not so easy with blood running down the side of my head & face - and on the cockpit floor, along with the last of my iced tea! She continued wailing - never looked at my injury, odd, as she was an ER nurse - all about her and how'd she get to their car. They aren't together now. When I sailed alone on inland lakes, I wore a vest. In the marina, the greatest threats were the cottonmouths crossing the inlet there. I don't miss that sailboat - a real hole in the water into which much money went - and from who's deck several fine knives were errantly float tested.

Stainz

 

[Lawlor69]

... She continued wailing - never looked at my injury, odd, as she was an ER nurse - all about her and how'd she get to their car. They aren't together now...
Stainz

I LOVED this little extra detail you added. Hilarious. To me, your description of this woman sounds like the very definition of sheeple.

 

[myright]

That sucks!:thumbdn:

It was run by state officials and still no one wore lifevests, real smart

I fish many calm lakes, and I always have a life vest with me, you never know.

I fish ponds that are shallow enough to stand up in most spots and I've always got a lifevest nearby.

Sad story.