Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Why you should always wear your PFD (life vest) when paddling!

I was rafting with some friends the other day, on what was supposed to be a three hour paddle. We were coming out of a cove that we were exploring along the river. As we were just about to let the strong current of the river turn us back toward our take out, I spotted a red canoe filled with water, almost enough to sink it. Following the canoe was a guy struggling to keep up with it in the heavy current. After that, all of the equipment, including the PFDs, that had been on board the canoe floated right on by. As the guy with the canoe finally is able to pull the boat to the river bank, he asks (shouting over the background noise) us if we could rescue his sister (around the same age) who didn't have her PFD on when the canoe had flipped. As I looked back too where he was pointing, I saw her clinging onto a log. Me, as well as the others on board the raft paddled as hard as we could up stream. Unfortunately, the current made it impossible to advance up to her location. Fortunately, another friend of mine paddling a small kayak was able to fight the current and reach her. Eventually, the two brother and sister were able to set out on their way once more. However, the two were a little wetter than they had planned on being. The moral of this story is to always wear your PFD, especially when you can't swim!