Foolishness on the Water

Kayaker Matt Lemke, an employee of Frontenac Outfitters, says the wearing of life jackets is always mandatory on their kayak tours. Photo by Terry Sprague

We have to wonder how many more boaters’ lives we have to lose before the Canadian Coast Guard finally recognizes the need to upgrade its current regulations on wearing life jackets?  As we read of yet another boating incident where a boater drowned who was not wearing his life jacket, all we can do is shake our heads with dismay at a regulation that is as silly as if we insisted that every car had to have seat belts, but it wasn’t necessary to wear them, as long as they were in the car with the driver and passengers! I have commented on this in the past and it is like beating a dead horse. Surely there must not be a more useless regulation around than the one that specifies you must have a life jacket/PFD for every person in your boat, and then simply end it there by failing to include actually putting it on so it can do some good in the event of an accident. Currently, The Canadian Coast Guard Small Vessel Regulations state that every canoe or kayak must contain a sound signalling device (whistle), a propelling device (paddle), one buoyant heaving line of not less than 15 metres in length, and a Canadian approved life jacket/PFD for every occupant. We can only assume, under the current regulations, if boaters were checked, the heaving line would be measured to ensure that it conformed to the regulations, the sound signalling device would be checked to make sure it produced a sound, and the boat would be checked for the presence of a paddle. But, as long as the life jacket was Canadian approved, it wouldn’t matter if it were being used as a kneeling pad, seat cushion, or stowed away in a container somewhere, provided it was in the boat. Whether or not you were wearing it would be of no importance, the way the regulations read at the moment. I am sure we have all read of other boating fatalities where a body was recovered, and the life jacket was found floating somewhere nearby. How many of those lives, we wonder, could have been saved if actually wearing the life jacket was mandatory. Life jackets/PFDS are no longer the bulky, unwieldy pieces of apparel they once were. Most are quite comfortable and allow paddlers to paddle and perform manoeuvres with ease. If paddlers can function easily with them on, surely someone simply sitting in a boat as passenger should have no problem. While the law clearly states that it is not mandatory to wear a life jacket, that doesn’t make it right. As canoeing and kayaking, and other forms of water travel, become more popular, it is essential that this law, totally useless as it reads now, be changed. To claim wearing one is not necessary because “I am a strong swimmer” doesn’t cut it any more than someone refusing to wear a seat belt in a car because “I never have accidents.” Fortunately this year enforcement officers on the water are encouraging and even rewarding boaters who are seen wearing their life jackets. Rather sad when you have to be bribed to stay alive.