Andy G
Hospitality Officer
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2010
- Messages
- 1,897
- Location
- Australia
- Vessel Name
- Sarawana
- Vessel Make
- IG 36 Quad Cabin
I was watching a boat the other day, it was one of those gorgeous sunny days, everything right with the world. The adults all chatting, with a glass of something in their hand , kids in & out of the water when I saw this little one trying to keep up with the older ones playing on the Marlin board.
To cut the story short, in she went. well all hell broke loose. She was fished out with no harm done and she was comforted by,I presume, her mother.For the record she was wearing a lifejacket.
The thing is, wearing a lifejacket is all well & good, IMHO kids need to know what to do if they accidentally fall into the water.
When my youngest was about five, we did the ritual 'in you go' initiation, that each of her brothers had to when they were young.This meant that with life jacket on her brothers threw her off the Marlin & she had to do a circumnavigation of the boat,to the cheers of all on board, and then climb out onto the Marlin board.
Now the thing is all her brothers had all undergone this on a previous boat we had owned, and the ladder set up on our present IG is a bit different, the result was she could not get out. This resulted in a family conflab as how to best remedy this. After some nifty carpentry and addition of various handles, we road tested it, with Das daughter jumping in and getting her self out again, we did this five times to ensure she was comfortable with getting herself out.
I think it is important that kids should practice overboard drills if they are going to spend anytime on the water. Accidentally falling in on a cold day is a different kettle of fish to jumping in with your brothers on a sunny hot day.
To cut the story short, in she went. well all hell broke loose. She was fished out with no harm done and she was comforted by,I presume, her mother.For the record she was wearing a lifejacket.
The thing is, wearing a lifejacket is all well & good, IMHO kids need to know what to do if they accidentally fall into the water.
When my youngest was about five, we did the ritual 'in you go' initiation, that each of her brothers had to when they were young.This meant that with life jacket on her brothers threw her off the Marlin & she had to do a circumnavigation of the boat,to the cheers of all on board, and then climb out onto the Marlin board.
Now the thing is all her brothers had all undergone this on a previous boat we had owned, and the ladder set up on our present IG is a bit different, the result was she could not get out. This resulted in a family conflab as how to best remedy this. After some nifty carpentry and addition of various handles, we road tested it, with Das daughter jumping in and getting her self out again, we did this five times to ensure she was comfortable with getting herself out.
I think it is important that kids should practice overboard drills if they are going to spend anytime on the water. Accidentally falling in on a cold day is a different kettle of fish to jumping in with your brothers on a sunny hot day.