Whether a person should wear a life jacket while boating seems like a no-brainer. Must be used. The truth is that most windsurfers do not. Once you’re sure you can get from point A to point B, it’s easy to feel secure with a big board under you. The sailor must already wear some kind of harness that easily attaches to the sail, so adding more clothing when in the sun and out on the water feels like too much. I was a windsurfer for over 23 years and didn’t wear a life jacket until I was involved in an intense drama that saved my life.
I was enjoying a very nice day of windsurfing with some friends. For the story, I’ll call them Mort and Shannon. The trade winds were blowing and we were flying over the water. After making a turn and starting to pick up speed again, I noticed that someone in the water seemed to be adjusting his gear or having a gear problem. From a distance it was hard to tell. I kept sailing a bit and decided to turn around again. This time, when I got closer to the guy in the water, I could see that there were now two people. When I was starting to sail, I heard my friend Mort yell at me that he needed help. It wasn’t until then that I realized it was an emergency. I was maybe 20 or 30 feet away when I ditched my windsurf board and swam out. When I got there, I could see Shannon wallowing in the water with a deadpan look on her face as Mort tried to save him. There was a windsurf board there, but we couldn’t get our friend to recognize it or hold it or anything. He just stirred. Twice I had to reach under the water and grab him by the hair and pull him up. The whole time we yell at him to hold on to the board. As he wrestled with Shannon, I realized that he was losing control. This could come down to saving him or myself. It was at that moment that Mort jumped onto the board and crouched down and together we pushed Shannon up and into Mort’s arms, who hugged him and made him relax. The three of us did nothing for a while. We were catching our breath and realizing how close we had come to drowning. We were able to get help from a motorcyclist and got our friend to shore and to the hospital. We almost felt like it was a stroke but then confirmed it when we visited.
Shannon eventually healed up pretty well, but she was no longer able to regain her confidence to sail. Mort and I went out and bought the latest windsurfing life jackets. Neither he nor I sailed again without one. We learned that the unexpected can happen to us or that while we are away from home we can be called again to help others.
If we were wearing life jackets that day we would still have had an emergency drama but it would be on the water and we would not be fighting for our lives not to sink.