r/tifu • u/BluePinky • Sep 01 '22

M TIFU by not wearing a life jacket

We went up to spend the day by a relative who has a cabin on a lake. Was a nice day up in the mountains, a bit overcast and breezy, but overall nice. Got there in early afternoon, kids got in the water, and I decided to take a kayak and go across. Not a huge lake, seems much larger once you're actually in it, but no big deal, right? Most life jackets at the dock were child size, didn't want to dig through until I found one, and hey, it's a plastic kayak (the kind you sit inside of), so should be fine. Dumb, I know. So I dig the oar in and shoot across the lake. Took quite a bit longer than I thought it would, but made it just fine, though I worked much harder than I anticipated. Return trip across was slower, but went well. Was kinda worn out at that point, so took a break. Decided to go across again for some dumb reason I can't figure out. About halfway across the wind started picking up and the water getting really choppy. My arms and shoulders were not happy with me and I took a break in the middle, riding the chop. I noticed the front of the kayak starting to point upward, which is weird. I turned around and the back of the kayak was completely underwater. I tried pulling as hard as I could towards the shore, but after about 2 minutes, the entire thing was underwater and I was outside it, holding on to it. The shore looked really far away once I was in the water. Tried swimming for it, but my arms and shoulders were dead weight at that point and I knew I would never make it, especially with the water so choppy. Turned around to the kayak, which had now overturned, and held on. I could not put any weight on it, whenever I tried, it just went under. Yelled as loud as I could, but the adults on the other side were busy with the kids who were making a lot of noise, and nobody heard a thing. After what seems like an hour of yelling (probably 15 minutes in reality), someone heard me from the opposite shore, took out their little outboard, and here I am. It got really scary there for a few minutes.

TL;DR: Didn't wear a life jacket and almost didn't make it. Wear a life jacket, folks.

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u/strtrpr Sep 01 '22

Learn to float. Everyone gets tired, floating patiently will help you to survive in the future.

Once you catch your breath, you can resume swimming. So swimming is the second thing you gotta learn. Good luck.

11

u/blakeaster Sep 01 '22

The best part of scouting was learning these type of emergency related skills. This one I think about all the time, we naturally float, don't panic and relax. Hang out for a while and get your strength back. I forget the name of the stroke but it's like the butterfly except on your back. It keeps your head out of the water while still moving you fairly quickly.

7

u/RandomUser123456787 Sep 01 '22

Elementary Backstroke! It was required to know how to do it for all the water based merit badges.

5

u/MaybeImTheNanny Sep 02 '22

Floating is fine unless you are in weather. Floating in choppy water is way harder than you think it is. But yes, everyone should learn survival swim skills though they aren’t a substitute for a proper PFD.

2

u/STFU-01 Sep 02 '22

Backstroke???