The Importance of Wearing a Life Jacket

For the safety of all small-boat captains and crew, the necessity of wearing a life jacket cannot be stressed enough.
Courtesy Mustang Survival

I am a boat owner and also a recovery diver for the local sheriff’s office. The agency I work for received a call to assist a boat tangled in the shallow-water vegetation a few feet from shore of a 255-acre lake. We retrieved the body of a small child. The boy appeared frozen in time, as if he were in midkick of a swim when he died. Meanwhile, a bass boat was still humming a short distance away: Its trolling motor remained active, like the boat was still searching for the big catch of the day. This was, indeed, a tragedy.

Divers were unsuccessful in locating the adult of the boat. A fishing rod lay neatly on the foredeck, and children’s toys were strewn about. The boat’s GPS displayed its path, with a marked “event” near a finger of land. From there, the boat ran straight across a channel before reaching the far shore, where more circles and arcs appeared before the boat hung up in the weeds.

Two days later, the body of the vessel’s owner-operator surfaced. During the investigation, several major issues became apparent. Life jackets were stowed underneath the fishing platform, not within easy reach and, obviously, not worn. When investigators told the mother about the incident, she stated that she thought they had been gone longer than usual. So, apparently, no float plan was utilized. The now-widow also said that the father could not swim and the boy was still learning.

What exactly happened will remain a mystery. For the safety of all small-boat captains and crew, the necessity of wearing a life jacket cannot be stressed enough. If the captain cannot save him- or herself, how can he or she save the crew, the boat, or ask for assistance? Know how to swim, wear a life jacket, and file a float plan.

William Coleman
Parrish, Florida

[For details about float plans and who to leave them with, visit boatingmag.com/how-to/filing-float-plan/. —Ed.]

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