Yes, the article is a real eye opener - especially the video. I almost drown in a boating accident when I was 9 and we weren't wearing life jackets. We were in an overloaded John Boat in a river when it swamped. I saw a lot of what this article was talking about with my actions. I could swim but didn't. Luckily, my uncle grabbed me and made me grab the boat which floated.
I was also a raft guide on the Cheat River in West (by God, smile when you say that) Virginia when I was in college. This is a Class V river in the spring. We would train with ice floating down the river and I can tell you, if you didn't have a life jacket on, even with a wet suit, you would be dead in a few minutes after hitting the water. As a social Darwinist, water is a great way to get self selected from the gene pool. G From: Louise Power [mailto:power_lou...@hotmail.com] Sent: Friday, June 07, 2013 11:28 AM To: texas cavers; Geary Schindel Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Article on drowning Excellent article, Geary. Since I live in an area with a lot of rivers and lakes, and because we manage the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River in Oregon, I'm passing this on to our folks. I think we had half a dozen or so drownings in the Rogue last year by people who did one of the stupidest things they can do...get on the river without a life jacket. I get really angry with parents who let their kids do that. When they are questioned about it, they almost always say that they had flotation devices in the boat. That's all well and good and it follows state law, but when you're falling into or you boat tips over into a cold, fast-running river believe me, there's no time to find your flotation device. You'd better be wearing it. Louise ________________________________ From: gschin...@edwardsaquifer.org<mailto:gschin...@edwardsaquifer.org> To: texascavers@texascavers.com<mailto:texascavers@texascavers.com> List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2013 10:35:52 -0500 Subject: [Texascavers] Article on drowning Folks, Here is an outstanding article on drowning and how to recognize it. Most importantly, actual drowning don't look like drowning depicted on TV and in the movies. Since many cavers are around water or in water caves, I thought this would be a good article to review. May save a life. http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/ Make sure that you view the video at the end of the article, it has some footage of a young kid trying to drown. Geary
