My view on water safety

[cahayabulan]

Last week there was yet another water sports-related drowning. Levin Angsana of SMU, drowned when he felled overboard the clipper he was commanding. He drowned because he was a weak swimmer not wearing a PFD.

This week, the Water Safety Council, set up after the dragon boat tragedy, proposed plans to make it compulsory for water sports participants to obtain a 'license' before being allowed to take part in water sports. This means anyone not proficient in swimming or water survival will be barred from them.

Will this reduced the number of drownings in water sports?

In Cambodia, all 5 young rowers who drowned were good swimmers. One was even an army commando. Last week Levin's team mate dived in to stayed with him, actually touched him, but could not keep him afloat.

In Levin's situation, a PFD would certainly have gave him precious seconds to think and calm down. He would have seen his team mate jumping after him, and the clipper turning back for him. He would have learned from his survival story.

We pick up water confidence and survival skills this way. These water activities provide an experience of water scape different from swimming pools, or the neighborhood drain. And we learned that water, weather, and our physical responses change all the time.

There are dangers everywhere and all the time. But that doesn't mean we froze or retreat, or alternatively beat them with bravado and careless optimism. We learn to assess risk and hone our judgment.

Survival in the water begins with prevention. If drowning is the biggest beast, wearing a PFD can substantially reduce this risk.

For any water sports novice, wearing a PFD offers the safest environment to learn. In fact, the more experienced ones seek out more safety instead of less. The wisest ones respect the power of the sea.

In both drowning cases, regulations state that PFDs 'are not required'. I don't see the disadvantage of having a 'wear PFD' rule, instead of having a rule which says 'PFDs are not required'.

On some occasions, not wearing PFDs make sense but this should be a judgment not a rule.

I don't agree we need to obtain a 'water safety' license to do water sports. This will create an entry layer that will discourage passionate participation in water sports. It should however, be a course on offer for those who would like themselves trained.

I think water safety is important, but such awareness come from participating in water sports. Seniors in the sports, the fraternity, and the course syllabus will have to emphasize it and create a culture around it.

Learning about the sea this way is much more practical, fun, effective, and fulfilling.

[ken_nerve]

I think the ones that would benefit most from this license would be the NSAs who can push away the blame. Instead of coming up with more rules, I feel they should educate water-sports enthusiasts and promote personal responsibility and sound judgement.

The person who jumped overboard to save Levin Angsana was a national sailor. I dont recall reading anything about a man -overboard drill being performed. Probably because the most experienced sailor, jumped into the water. There should have been one lifevest for everyone onboard the keelboat as per MPA regulations, meaning about 5 lifevest could have been thrown into the water.
As a skipper-in-training, I would expect Levin to have at least some basic swimming skills and the sound judgement to don a lifevest when the conditions became rough.
A similar situation happened at the start line of a keelboat race few years ago in rough conditions. The crew performed a MOB drill and picked up the man overboard. No casualties then. Likewise, the person that fell overboard was not wearing a PFD.

That aside, sometimes have to blame the NSAs.
When I did my recreational dragonboat coaching in May, I felt it was poorly organised. During the assessment phase, the Secretary-General of SDBA would speed around in a powerboat creating waves to test the ability of the coxswain. Aren't reservoirs are "No Wake Zones"? (Correct me if Im wrong).
What I could not tolerate most was his reckless behaviour. First, he ordered the coxswain to bring the boat to the duck tours ramp and stop there. Thankfully, the coxswain had more sense than that and did not follow his instructions exactly.
After that, he would speed towards the dragonboats and stop his powerboat suddenly barely one paddle length away from our dragonboat.
What kind of message are they sending out to the instructors-to-be?

[happywolfie]

That story about the dragonboating course sounds really silly; sadly, I think there are people in adventure sports who thinks that the best way of training coaches or instructors is to throw them all kinds of dangerous and ridiculous situations so as to 'test' them. Full of nonsense...

I have a strong reaction to that newspaper report where Mr Teo Ser Luck reacted against SCF's statement about the issue. I think SCF have already did its part to help promote paddling safety with the star syllabus. No one can pass 1 star if he/she is not able to swim unassisted without a flotation vest. In the paddling context, if your boat doesn't sink and you are wearing your PFD, treading water is not necessary.

And if some sort of license is needed, will it be mandatory that every single person certified by SCF thus far have to take a swim test? That sounds ridiculous. So I am certified to be able to do open water crossings with 3ft swells and I can't paddle? No kayakers should be swimming in the water anyway!

If anything, the country should establish a system to get all school children into a swimming program so that they can all be safe in the water, regardless of whether they take up watersports in the future. The onus/blame should not go to SCF or SDBA or Singapore sailing.

Maybe someone should write a letter to Mr Teo to present him with our logic.

[ken_nerve]

Found the online version of the article.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_258102.html

[ken_nerve]

Part of an email I recieved from the National Water Safety Council.

"With regard to the 'water sports licensing programme', which was mentioned recently by the press, the relevant authorities are still in consultation with local water sports National Sports Associations (NSA) to understand ground concerns and the feasibility of such a suggestion. Nothing is cast in stone yet, as we are looking into ways to collaborate with the NSAs to introduce relevant safety guidelines for each sport."