Brian Rogers Rogers Rabbits www.sunlive.co.nz

It's not the water that drowns you. It's your clothes.

Darwin's theory about natural selection continues to march on relentlessly, sorting the population into those who have the nous to keep themselves alive, from those who don't.

There have been some most unfortunate tragedies this year and some clearly demonstrate Darwin was right. Even when people are warned of danger, there are some who just carry on regardless and some pay the ultimate price.
Sure, there will always be genuine accidents; those unforeseeable mishaps that occur that couldn't reasonably have been expected. Collisions with whales or bits of Rena; gear failure on even the most well-maintained vessels; Hori BOP secretly stows away in your bow; medical cases; lightning strikes, to name a few. Even the case of the Japanese fishing trawler sunk by a falling cow*.
Those are accidents.

But some cases are people just asking for trouble.

No amount of warnings from the do-gooders in society will be enough to make these people stop and think. They continue to go out in boats without lifejackets; swim in surf beyond their capabilities; a similar attitude to those who drive reckless/drunk/too fast/in shit cars/without seatbelts, or a combination of all those.

Jean pool

Remember years ago, it used to be 'swimming in jeans” that claimed the lives of many. We don't hear of that so often these days, but the same thread of stupidity flounders on.

The tragedy is heightened however, when they take out innocent people, who HAVE thought about consequences. People who try to keep themselves safe but are at the mercy of the non-thinkers or those who just don't care whether their actions cost lives – theirs or others. Sometimes, people trying to go to their assistance.

In the case of some recent boating tragedies, no amount of legislation is going to save some people. Make lifejackets compulsory? Who is going to police that? A lifejacket monitor at every boat ramp, riverside, beach or lake? Whatever happened to taking personal responsibility?
One of the factors that many boaties fail to understand is it's not the water that drowns you in winter. It's your clothes. You can fall out of a boat in summer in your shorts, tee shirt and jandals and probably keep yourself afloat for hours.

Fall out of a boat in winter, in your jeans, corduroys, Doc Martins, hoodie, sweatshirt, Swanndri or trackies… and you're a sponge with four weighted appendages. You can hardly move, let alone swim. Hypothermia will eventually get you, but it's the sheer weight of wet clothing that shuts you down.

Try it. Jump into a swimming pool (with some help nearby!) fully clothed and try to swim to the edge. It's like trying to break dance in a sleeping bag. Wet clothing weighs a ton. It is impossible to move. You tire very quickly and sink very effectively.

Do we teach this in schools? It should be compulsory. It used to be an activity at Scouts and Guides and the kayak club.

Extra kilos

It's a wonder there aren't more shooters lost when you see and hear the stories. I've seen countless numbers of duckshooters climb into their overloaded dinghies wearing polar fleece, camo gear, oilskins, woolly jumpers and boots – complete with a couple of kilograms of shot shells around their waists and in pockets.

One bunch this year were doing fine in their punt until a larger boat roared up the river, swamping their dinghy and landing them, and all their gear including a new shotgun, into the Waikato.

It's not just the occasional boaters or the newbies though, who get into trouble. A few years ago a well-seasoned ocean sailor, with multiple Pacific voyages under his keel, had the most life-threatening event of his life just five minutes from the marina. He was knocked overboard, in his wet weather gear, after an accidental gybe. He could not move his arms and legs and by the time the yacht was turned around, he was barely able to breathe as his jacket with some air trapped in it, floated up around his head. They had trouble getting him back aboard, he was so exhausted from simply trying to keep his head above water.

He and his family were stunned that they could have survived thousands of blue water miles, dodged dangerous reefs, storms, poisonous sea critters, pirates, crocodiles and wild natives – simply to get into so much trouble within sight of the marina berth. It changed their thinking, and on hearing the story, it changed mine. They used to have a policy of putting on lifejackets when going out of the harbour. Now they go on at the marina. The water is over our heads at our doorstep, just as it is 20 or 200 miles out.

What is needed in New Zealand is a change of thinking community-wide. It won't be legislation that achieves any improvement. It has to be a change of attitude across entire families and communities.

Otherwise, people will simply continue to drown in apathy.

Darwin was right. We just need to decide which category we fall in... fall in and float, or the ones who fall in and sink.

*Later proven to be a hoax, but still a good yarn. See below.