Safety question

[biglar155]

The rule is that everyone wears a life jacket while underway on our boat.

At anchor (8 feet of hazy lake water with no current) the jackets come off (all are good swimmers) but one person (Mom, Dad, or Eldest Daughter) must be watching while others are in the water.

The "life guard" stays near a foam floaty board that will be used in the event of a rescue operation.

 

[Billtex2000]

We are in 100 feet of water

The fact that my lake is pretty deep (60') freaks me out a bit too! If we're in deep water, life jackets are the rule! It's nice that we have coves that we anchor in that are no more than 6-8'! That's where most of our swimming is done.

 

[jawsf16]

It was only up a very long steep hill with very hot asphalt on the way home.

 

[bronze_10]

@Bruce, you forgot to mention that it was uphill both ways.

in waist high snow on top of the hot asphalt.

 

[JTC1016]

My kids' biggest complaint is usually getting back in the boat with a wet life jacket. For my 4 year old we take a separate puddle jumper and make her wear that so she can change back into the dry life jacket. My 6 year old is a good swimmer so we let her use a pool noodle or boogie board but there is always something for them to hang on to.
Those rules change when we go out on Lake Michigan. Then life jackets or puddle jumpers all around.

 

[JEvanoff]

We have made some type of floatable to be with the person after an incident happened to a good friend at a local lake. This friend grew up on the islands and was a very good swimmer. However he jumped off the boat to cool down with no vest or floatable. Luckily another friend was watching at the time and noticed he started to go down after he surfaced. He jumped in and saved him, come to find out the friend that jumped off got a severe cramp in his shoulder and was unable to tread water or swim at all. Thank god somebody was watching and managed to pull him in, The incident really made all of us realize how quick things can happen. So from now on we use the rule if your going in, you must have a vest or some type of floatable, even a buoy with a rope on it works.
I can't imagine how that could ruin a trip.

 

[Earfixr]

Luck runs out, safety never does. Life jackets are cheap. Kids are expensive. I'd rather have the added insurance of an LJ than what i'm risking on my kid without one.

 

[Eric Ballard]

My daughter loves diving off the back of the boat in deep water. Last year I started thinking, what if she hits her head on the way in and doesn't resurface? Then I thought, she should probably wear a life jacket, although diving with a life jacket isn't fun.

What do you guys do with your children in deep water?

My rule, regardless of age is; if you can't see the bottom you cant dive. Here in NC at least a couple people die every year diving into lakes. They simply dive in and never resurface. The thought of that scares me enough that I am a hard-ass about it.

 

[subysti]

Always wear a life jacket. You never know what could be there, a dead tree sticking up, a rock out cropping. No need to take a risk. Bodies do not naturally float unless you have lungs full of air which an unconscious person may not. It's a common myth that bodies float but they don't surface until they start to decompose and produce gasses to bring them up, I know.

 

[Jaime]

My daughter loves diving off the back of the boat in deep water. Last year I started thinking, what if she hits her head on the way in and doesn't resurface? Then I thought, she should probably wear a life jacket, although diving with a life jacket isn't fun.

What do you guys do with your children in deep water?

If they know how swim let them jump of the rear if not make them wear a life jacket