Read Mark's Message! The Life You Save May Be Your Own

Shawn Alladio · 08-12-2008, 03:52 PM

Hello All!

Education is the best measure of prevention along with common sense and awareness. Our goals at Kanalu K38 and K38 Water Safety are to educate personal water craft and rescue water craft boaters before they have a negative boating experience or become a statistic.

In partnership with the National Safe Boating Council, the National Association of Boating Law Administrators, the Water Safety Congress, the United States Coast Guard and the American Watercraft Association we believe in the value of community and proactive intervention through education, training, safety, and effective boating legislation that helps save lives!

This best starts before the boat is launched with understanding the rules of the road, environmental considerations, vessel integrity and familiarity, physical fitness level of those on board, emergency preparedness and responsible boating behavior and etiquette are imperative to ensure a positive boating experience for not only you but others who are enjoying our nations waterways!

If you have children who want to engage in a boating activity or are invited by others, even being pulled on a aquaplane device while underway, check the rules and laws in the area you/they are boating in. Check their life jacket for proper fit, size and integrity. Do question the operator of the vessel in where they will go and how they intend to operate with your child on board. Choose wisely for the safety of your children, do not assume anything, but get informed and make the best decision on behalf or your children. Asking effective questions can help alleviate any concerns and can well lead to a very positive and fun filled day on the water!

We share stories of real world experiences to learn from and to share with others in the hope that they will be inspired to learn, to seek knowledge, the get training, to know and understand what their limits are and those of the boats and environment they recreate or work on. Please join us and share your experiences so that others may learn and live!

Yours In Water Safety

Shawn Alladio

Kanalu K38-K38 International

Please Read Mark's heartfelt story and take his message to heart, he speaks from experience and remember 'The Life You Save May Be Your Own'.

Near drowning experience, PLEASE READ

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I want to share my story with people in this forum to remind them of one thing, PWC safety. This past weekend I had an eye opener experience with my PWC. Please read on...

Getting near sunset, I decided to take one last ride before meeting my friends at the launch to load my PWC. They broke down the picnic site while I rode off. Only about 3 other people on the lake at this time and the wind started blowing a bit.

About 300 yards off shore I was riding some serious chop from the wind when I got tossed off my PWC. I must have flown at least 10 feet in one direction while my PWC went in the opposite direction. I have fallen off my PWC before, so this was not a concern when it happened again.

As I popped up and located the PWC about 20 feet away, I begin to swim towards it. The more I swam to the ski, the farther it seemed to go. The wind was blowing my PWC away from me! I swam towards it again but my life jacket seemed to be coming loose. My life jacket is about 3 years old and in somewhat poor condition. I never though much of it since it never seemed to obstruct me until this moment.

The more I swam, the harder it became with the life jacket. The PWC still blowing away from me was starting to get out of reach. I looked around and no one near ear shot in the water. My party had left the site and not sure if anyone on shore was watching me. I made a bad decision and took the lifejacket off since I figured it was only keeping me from reaching my PWC.

By this time my PWC was about 20 yards away and drifting. Out of breath, swallowing water, I began a frantic swim to my PWC. The panic began to set in and this is when things got scary. After swimming those 20 yards, I was bushed! Barely able to hold onto the PWC I tried to pull myself up but could not. I looked around shore and still no sign of anyone watching me.

Thank the lucky stars, a boater about 50 yards out noticed me and I began waiving. He pulled up next to me and pulled me onto his boat. He jumped in the water and grabbed my lifejacket and then tied my ski to his boat. Exhausted and disorientated, he got me to the launch where my friends took over and helped me out.

In my 3 years of boating, never before had I ever felt the panic that set it on me. Had that boater not noticed me, I'm not sure I could have kept swimming and stayed afloat. Here is what I have now learned...

SAFETY first!

Be in some type of physical shape. If you cant pull yourself up onto a PWC you shouldn't be riding one.

Try and boat with a partner.

Always let someone know where you will be riding.

Try to stay within visual of shore if you are at a lake.

Make sure life jacket is in good condition. If not, replace it immediately!

Swimming long distances is extremely tiring. You must be in decent shape if you need to get back to your boat.

I hope riders (especially novice riders) read this and take it seriously! I used to be of the "it wont happen to me" crowd. Never again will I make that mistake.

Be safe out there!

Mark

__________________
2003 Yamaha FX140

NorCal JetSki Crew
"You think you know, but you have know idea..."

http://nasbla.org/i4a/bb/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=6

Shawn Alladio · 08-12-2008, 03:55 PM

Ahoy!

Please join us at http://www.RescueVoices.com and hear the rescuers voice and stories that come from their heart. Below is an introduction by California Department of Boating and Waterways Director, Mr. Ray Tsuneyoshi.

Yours In Water Safety
K38

___________________________

When All Else Fails

I “boarded” this recreational boating line of work rather late in my life. Actually, it was just before I turned 60. I serve as the Director for the Department of Boating and Waterways, popularly known as Cal Boating. There are so many aspects of my job ranging from promoting boating access, boating safety education and so on. The one segment of my responsibility that has loomed larger than all else, and has become a burning passion is boating safety. The State of California, 55 other states and territories in the nation spend millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of hours in outreach, education and law enforcement. We use radio, television, publications, classroom instruction and so many other venues to reach out to those boaters that navigate our waterways. We try to instill in them safety habits, such as courtesy to other boaters, sober boating, wearing a life jacket, etc. It is imperative for boaters to acquire these habits for an enjoyable and safe outing. When all else fails, the task of recovery falls to those involved in search and rescue missions.

This site is about the brave men and women who have to step up and get to work when all else fails. It is about going out in storms, at night, into locales where physical danger is ever present and where injury or death are the price for the smallest misstep, lapse in concentration or timing. The faint of heart, those who fear risk or hesitate are very quickly left by the wayside or become casualties.

The quality that is most apparent in these people is that they do their jobs with the same burning passion I mentioned at the outset of my introduction. It is also a common trait that they all find it hard to let go, to leave their chosen line of work. Even in retirement you will find them hanging around the stations or attending events, where they know many of their “compadres” will be to exchange stories or to find out about the latest equipment or techniques that have been developed.

As you navigate through the pages of this site and read the stories, you will find that caring and compassion is interwoven into the very fabric of the tapestry of the many lives and adventures depicted within. These qualities, the sacrifice and the caring have rubbed off on me and drive me to ramp up my efforts locally and nationally to get boaters to boat safely and, maybe, reduce the number of times they have to face danger because all else has failed.

http://rescuevoices.com/rayintro.html