Lifejackets Save Lives...When You Wear Them

Back many moons ago, when I was but a young Sailor aboard my first ship, an old "tin can," I got used to hearing a phrase similar to this: "This is a drill...this is a drill...man overboard..." belching from the 1MC. Those words always were a signal to all hands that Oscar the mannequin had been tossed overboard and once again was getting wet as a means to test the recovery acumen of our crew. 

Occasionally, I'd hear that phrase, minus the words "this is a drill." On such an occasion, I knew it was the "real deal." In other words, a shipmate, for whatever reason, had gone overboard. And sad to say, those "real deals" didn't always end on a positive note.

Those days, coupled with the many that I later spent as a magazine editor at the Naval Safety Center, where I read Navywide mishap reports daily, left an indelible mark on me that remains to this day. I take safety of all kinds seriously.

While I (knock on wood) never have gone overboard...from a Navy ship or any other kind of vessel...I have personally known shipmates and friends who have. As a matter of fact, I've had two friends slip overboard from the bass boat I currently own.

As was our editorial policy when I worked at the Naval Safety Center, I make it a point to never make light of an incident that ends in tragedy. However, I do use occasions that end in survival as learning tools for the benefit of others.

I happened across one of these incidents recently while doing some online research. It came from a member of a bass club that has what they call a "human bobber award." It is presented each year at an annual banquet to anyone and everyone who has taken a plunge from their boat.

One of the recent recipients was a fella whose regular net man was his 12-year-old soon. As luck would have it, though, the son didn't feel so good one morning when his dad awakened him at 5:30, so pop just hooked up the boat and headed out by himself.

Upon arrival at the fishing site, he found another club member who didn't have a back-seater and hooked up with him for the day. This fella drove a Nitro.

The Nitro angler rigged a seat atop two stacked poles on the stern, which made it a bit too high to sit on. As a result, the back-seater just leaned against it...like people treat a butt seat.

The duo had fished for a while when they happened across a couple other fishermen and stopped to talk. When the Nitro man started to move away, the back-seater leaned against the seat but only caught the corner of it, causing the seat to swivel and dumping the back-seater on his hands and knees on the edge of the boat.

When the Nitro man turned around to see what the commotion was about, the boat rocked, sending the back-seater into the water head-first. As a result, he now has a "human bobber award" hanging proudly on the wall of his family room.

As recorded by the U.S. Coast Guard, there are more than 600 recreational boating fatalities annually. Drowning is the reported cause of death in three-fourths of these cases. Why? Because people notoriously don't wear their life jackets. They instead just store them for a "what if" situation...not very smart.