PSA: Story and Life Jacket

[tdonoughue]

So, this weekend we were out on Lake Livingston (actually, an ox bow off of Livingston--which becomes important here in a minute) with a large group. Mostly it rained, but it got clear and the lightening went away enough for us to get out on the boat for a couple of hours. I beached nearby and we all jumped into the water--probably about 3 feet deep off the aft of the boat.

Among us was one gent who has some disabilities, Martin. We all kinda watch out for him, but, for example, it took two of us to guide him off the back of the boat, down the ladder and into the water. As those who boat in Texas will know, the shallow water is usually warmer, and shortly the crew gathered slowly drifted to a bit deeper water where cooler spots could be found.

What we did not realize was that about 15 feet out from the shore, the bottom drops--fast--from about 4.5 feet to, um, much, much more. As Martin got to that point, he went under. The guy next to him got wide eyes and says to me, "Help me!" I swam to Martin's other side, pulled him up, but then found the other thing we did not know: where it got deep, there was also a swift current (ox bow after the rain--remember?) pulling us away from the boat. I was struggling to stay up, fight the current, keep Martin partially up, and try to push him to the shallow. He went under a few times. Others in the group arrived. I gave Martin a shove in the right direction and started sprinting for the boat to get a floatable. Fortunately, the group was able to get Martin up into shallow water and closer to the boat.

I got out the life jacket that Martin should have had on in the first place, even in 3 feet of water, and we put it on him. Clearly it was my fault he did not have it on. Fortunately we were able to get Martin out of danger. But had there been fewer of us or some of us been positioned differently, things could have ended very differently.

Kids, those with disabilities, those who are injured and anyone who cannot swim well should have on a life jacket out there. Even if the water is only 3 feet.

 

[djetok]

So, this weekend we were out on Lake Livingston (actually, an ox bow off of Livingston--which becomes important here in a minute) with a large group. Mostly it rained, but it got clear and the lightening went away enough for us to get out on the boat for a couple of hours. I beached nearby and we all jumped into the water--probably about 3 feet deep off the aft of the boat.

Among us was one gent who has some disabilities, Martin. We all kinda watch out for him, but, for example, it took two of us to guide him off the back of the boat, down the ladder and into the water. As those who boat in Texas will know, the shallow water is usually warmer, and shortly the crew gathered slowly drifted to a bit deeper water where cooler spots could be found.

What we did not realize was that about 15 feet out from the shore, the bottom drops--fast--from about 4.5 feet to, um, much, much more. As Martin got to that point, he went under. The guy next to him got wide eyes and says to me, "Help me!" I swam to Martin's other side, pulled him up, but then found the other thing we did not know: where it got deep, there was also a swift current (ox bow after the rain--remember?) pulling us away from the boat. I was struggling to stay up, fight the current, keep Martin partially up, and try to push him to the shallow. He went under a few times. Others in the group arrived. I gave Martin a shove in the right direction and started sprinting for the boat to get a floatable. Fortunately, the group was able to get Martin up into shallow water and closer to the boat.

I got out the life jacket that Martin should have had on in the first place, even in 3 feet of water, and we put it on him. Clearly it was my fault he did not have it on. Fortunately we were able to get Martin out of danger. But had there been fewer of us or some of us been positioned differently, things could have ended very differently.

Kids, those with disabilities, those who are injured and anyone who cannot swim well should have on a life jacket out there. Even if the water is only 3 feet.

Thank goodness it was not a tragedy but a learning moment. I am happy that it turned out ok

 

[Julian]

The kids always want to take their life jackets off when we anchor off the beach....I let them, but make each of them take a noodle with them...even though they are all swim team members....I'd just prefer they have something that floats with them! Once we depart the beach...jackets back on!

 

[captras]

I have a place up at Livingston....where is Oxbow. We usually are down by the damn, or hanging out around Pine Island. Glad everybody is ok. That must have been scary as hell for everyone!

 

[Kelso]

I was on Livingston this past weekend too, the storms rolling through were impressive, especially Saturday. Where, or what, is an OxBow?

I'm mid-lake, eastern shoreline, looking out at big water, 7 miles to the other shore.

 

[Scottintexas]

that's how fast it happens, glad to hear it turned out ok, thanks for giving us a reminder,

 

[scokill]

This was years ago, but we sometimes will shut off the boat and swim in the middle of the lake. We had some friends on the boat and they all were good swimmers, so we stop the boat and swam. We began to drift from the boat a little and one our friends went into a panic trance. I had to go rescue him. I had no flotation device and was doing the rescue swim taught to lifeguards and I've gone through it and rescue diver training. But when you don't have a flotation can, or a BCD it's a little different. He was in a panic so much that he was going to take me with him and I had to calm him down. It was to the point that I was about to have to make a decision to let him die to save myself. We ended up in the boat and he really didn't know what happened. I've had something similar happen in college swimming in a rock quarry. Several of us had to switch off rescuing a friend because he was combative.

 

[tdonoughue]

An ox bow lake is a lake that forms when a bend in a river gets more and more severe, to the point where the river 'jumps' the land, leaving just the 'bend' full of water. It can happen many different ways, but basically when you have those bodies of water next to rivers, those are ox bow lakes. We were way up north of Livingston, technically. Near Riverside off of the Trinity River on one of those little lakes that formed next to the Trinity. So, with all of the rain, some of that current started flowing through the ox bow again...