BABES & BOATS

Babes and boats. I bet this conjured up images of long legged beauties lolling all over the deck of a boat, but sorry guys that's not what this hub is about.Its actually about keeping babies and small children safe and comfortable while in a boat on the water.

When our daughter was born, the most useful piece of information that was given to us in regard to this subject, was from a friend who suggested we get a beanbag for her . At the time we had a power boat, which came with lots of speed,bounce & banging across water so it was a concern how we were going to keep a baby secure and comfortable while using it.

This is were the beanbag was worth its weight in gold. We put Jorgia in it from when she was only a few weeks old and she loved it. It cocooned her. If we were in choppy water it absorbed shock from the hull of the boat hitting water. She couldn't be bounced out of it and she couldn't fall or roll out of it. It kept her so comfortable, that as soon as we placed her in it she went immediately to sleep. This has had a lasting effect on her, and to this day, 17 years later she still heads straight for her bed when we first get on the boat, to have a sleep.

As she got older she progressed to wearing a child size life jacket. It is absolutely essential that a child wears a jacket that fits them. If it is too big it will just slip up over their head if they fall in and can even cause drowning by hindering the child's ability to get their head above the water. When Jorgia wasn't in her bean bag, she would be sitting on a seat in the boat, using the neck supporting collar of her life jacket like a pillow and we would invariably find her fast asleep behind her sunglasses.

I know a lot of kids find hats sunglassesand life jackets a nuisance, but I believe that if you get them used to wearing them from a very early age, they don't constantly keep taking them off.The security of the life jacket becomes a habit, like wearing a seat belt in a car and recently we had good cause to be thankful for that habit.

Jorgia and a friend decided to take one of our kayaks out into the bay in front of where we live. The day started out calm and sunny with flat water, but quickly changed to a strong wind blowing and rough seas. They were tossed out of the kayak which filled up quickly with the cold water they were now immersed in. It took them 20 minutes to make it to shore on the opposite side of the bay and by the time they made it they were suffering from mild hypothermia. Thankfully they were rescued shortly after, by a passing boat who's attention they managed to attract.

Thank god for life jackets and Jorgia's lifetime habit of wearing one while on the water, or the outcome to that day may have been completely different and I shudder at the thought of what could have been.

Wear what you `orta' to stay safe in the water.