Children on the Broads without life jackets

[Gracie]

Hi All

 

I was watching the web cams as you do and briefly caught a glimpse of two children in a rowing dinghy not wearing life jackets

 

What is wrong with parents that allow the most precious things in their lives to do such a thing?

 

Our boys are good swimmers but even if they could swim for England they would not under any circumstances be allowed to venture outside the boat without their life jackets. If they moan about wearing them they know my response, if you don't want to wear them you don't leave the boat, simple as that

 

On another thread started by Marina (JawOrcas Mum) she raised awareness of the importance of pets wearing life jackets and quite right too, I would just like to add to anyone reading this who are holidaying on the Broads with their children, please, please make them wear their life jackets it could save their lives one day. 

 

Grace

[SweetKingfisher1]

Hello Grace, once again I do agree with you. We saw it at the weekend children with no lifejackets and leaning over the sides. What is the matter with the parents? Though out the season you heard of accidents on boats / in the water. It is a great holiday, but you still have to be aware of what is happening around you. 

 

Happy boating 

 

Regards

Marina  

[JawsOrca]

I must admit though I was surprised when we was up there last, to see most kids wearing jackets (Even adults) and even whilst inside (that does bring a smile though! - Importantly you should be careful wearing an automatic jacket inside though).  It probably shows when we was up there 8 odd years ago no one wore jackets and someone is doing a good job telling people to wear them. 

 

Also too, I've never seen so many people swimming in the rivers.. a couple of boats in beccles YS the parents were even throwing the kids in (with and without jackets).. it was a hot week but the broads rivers really aren't for swimming in, certainly down as far as beccles the waters are shallow and I'm sure the muds thick...

 

Please do be careful people

[Polly]

I so agree the awareness of what can happen just isn't there, I fear. I do think that if the adults set the example, wearing theirs, then the children will accept that that is what happens afloat. Top marks to the boatyards that now supply the slimline lifejackets instead of the orange horrors. ::

[ExUserGone]

We have a crewsaver petfloat for the dog but most of the time he just wears a harness to make it easier to grab and lift if he does go in, luckily he hates water so does his best to stay out.

He struggles enough in hot weather without putting a lifejacket on all the time.

[jeffbroadslover]

Why is it that in a lot of cases nowadays the idea of parents teaching kids "common sense"  has been long forgotten ?

 

Or is it like everything else.........someone else's responsibility!?

[Polly]

I don't know about common sense. If you are a regular boater, there are things that are plain and obvious to you..common sense if you like... but are actually learned behaviours.

Modern cruisers with their microwaves, telly, and ensuites look and feel more safe and domestic than different and boat-like. Everything works at a button press and if you are not mooring up, (that is challenging to beginners) life seems easy. My point is that some people may be lulled into a false sense of security and relax their vigilance? The Wear It campaign does seem to be working though, there are lots more LJs in evidence than there were.

[gancanny]

  what really scares the hell out of me is 2 or 3 kids, maybe as young as 6 and 7 using the roof of a bathtub type boat as a play ground while underway

 

   bad enough when moored but going down the river is just plain madness  

[Paladin]

I would very much like to know if there has been a detailed study of drownings on the Broads. The bald statistic of x number of drownings in any given year is useless, when discussing whether or not wearing a lifejacket would have made a difference. In general terms, wearing a lifejacket will make a difference, usually beneficial. But an auto jacket which inflates after a boat has capsized might make it very difficult for the wearer to extricate themselves.

 

Mention has been made of wearing a lifejacket in Roy's. But where should the line be drawn? Fatal accidents have happened when someone was returning to their boat after a night out. Should they have taken a lifejacket with them to wear on their return? There have been a number of people who fall into the river in Norwich or Great Yarmouth, having spent the evening in a club or pub, but who have nothing at all to do with boating.

 

This is not an argument against wearing life jackets. They can, and do, save lives. I think children and animals should wear them at all times on a boat. Sentient adults should make up their own minds. I would be interested in seeing detailed stats, if they exist. But someone is more likely to be killed or injured travelling to their Broads holiday by car than they are during their boating holiday.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello Paladin,

 

I totally agree with your last paragraph especially on the A17 and A47 going to the Broads, but after saying that it is the people not the roads that are the issue, not driving to the conditions or having a regard to their or other peoples safety.

 

Regards

Alan

[JennyMorgan]

I agree entirely with Dave on this one. I grew up at a time when lifejackets were leftovers, surplus from the D-day Landings, Dreadful things! Arthur Ransom's Swallows & Amazons, like Ratty & Mole in Wind in the Willows, were taught that safety was about learning the right skills rather than buying the approved safety equipment, As children we were given the freedom to roam but with that came a solid grounding in personal responsibility. Hard to shake that off at my age! 

[Paladin]

There are parts of the system where I think they are essential, Reedham Cantley St Olaves Stracey Arms Thurne Mouth etc.

Someone who can assess the inherent dangers of certain parts of the Broads can probably assess whether or not, and when, to wear a life jacket. It's those who do not recognise the dangers who, perhaps, need more education.

 

The unexpected can always happen, and there might not be time to don a jacket - the most recent example is the sinking of a sailing boat at Thurne Mouth a couple of days ago. A sudden gust of wind and...hey ho.

[kadensa]

Top marks to the boatyards that now supply the slimline lifejackets instead of the orange horrors. : :

Yes, but at least with a buoyancy aid you know it will work!  The problem with the auto-inflate ones is that if it doesn't, then it's too late to do anything about it.

[Polly]

We got all ours checked by RNLI recently, all well but a ticking off for no crutch straps on any of them. Oops

Maybe the kids in Roy's were embracing the boaty thing and enjoying wearing them

[kadensa]

Yes, we get our personal ones checked, too (and we have crutch straps - what a pain they are - right up there with thongs in the comfort stakes! )

 

As for people wearing them ashore - what else are you to do with them?  Getting on and off the boat is when the vast majority of accidents happen and carrying them on your person beats having to hold them, especially if you also have shopping bags etc.

[kadensa]

 

 my worry is though that children wearing lifejackets leads parents to thinking their children are safe and you get situations such as has been mentioned where children are allowed to play on the top of moving boats unsupervised. 

 

I doubt whether any parent who actually thinks that it is safe for children,  unsupervised or not,  to play on the top of a boat (moving or otherwise), has the mental capacity to form a rational judgment about anything.

[kadensa]

Bit harsh Kadensa, they had the sense to ensure the kids were wearing life jackets but as some one has said previously, what appears obvious to regular boaters isn't always as obvious to a first timer. 

 

Dave

Harsh - not at all.  To give a bit of background to my way of thinking.....  My children grew up in a country where we had, more often than not, a swimming pool in the garden.  The very first thing they were taught (and we're talking about from the age of one upward) was 'you don't go near the pool without an adult being present'.  Then they were taught how to swim (but the previous rule still applied).  Once they were of an age for us to take them sailing, the rule was -  'you don't even touch a boat without wearing a lifejacket'. These were rules and not negotiable.

 

You don't have to be an experienced boater to know that any activity around water is potentially dangerous.  A little intelligence is all that's required. 

[Timbo]

Sometimes they just have to learn the hard way. Last year my young crew member (16) point blank refused to wear a life jacket, no matter how many times I told them to wear it, every time I turned around the jacket would be hanging off the wheelhouse door. Leaving Ranworth and part way up the dyke I heard a call. Expecting to see the dog in the water (he does wear his life jacket) I saw my young crew member bobbing in the drink with the Boat's Beagle sat on the deck doing the head swivel between me at the helm and the crew member in the water as if to say 'have you seen that?'.

 

My first thought was 'what's that prat doing in the water, other than the breast stroke that is'. I calmly stopped the engine, dropped the mud weight and strolled to the blunt end where I threw out the life belt and retrieved the crew member. 

 

Cold, scared, surprised at how much water they had swallowed, at how deep the water was, how black it was just below the surface and at how fast the water in the dyke was flowing... that crew member now never leaves the cockpit without a lifejacket.Not ever! And there indeed did endeth the lesson, a lesson learned the hard way.

[kadensa]

. Last year my young crew member (16) point blank refused to wear a life jacket, no matter how many times I told them to wear it,

 

 

That's why you have to get them young!