When did you stop using life vests around water?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a boat or dock - my kids will wear them as long as I have a say

This. My family has a place on a lake. It's very very deep but is so clear you can't tell. I've heard of adults who can swim jump in and try to get something from the bottom and drown on the way back up.

And you believed that?

I believe it. I grew up by the beach in California. I spent countless hours in powerful waves, did junior lifeguards for a couple of seasons and swam around a pier, was on swim team and we sometimes went to the beach to swim a mile in the ocean.

The first time I jumped off a boat into a lake I panicked. I was so used to the buoyancy of salt water bringing you back up to the surface. It was the strangest sensation. It also didn’t help I had a drink or two. I got back in the boat and refused to go back into the lake. I’ve never gone back to swim in a lake again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a boat or dock - my kids will wear them as long as I have a say

This. My family has a place on a lake. It's very very deep but is so clear you can't tell. I've heard of adults who can swim jump in and try to get something from the bottom and drown on the way back up.

And you believed that?

I believe it. I grew up by the beach in California. I spent countless hours in powerful waves, did junior lifeguards for a couple of seasons and swam around a pier, was on swim team and we sometimes went to the beach to swim a mile in the ocean.

The first time I jumped off a boat into a lake I panicked. I was so used to the buoyancy of salt water bringing you back up to the surface. It was the strangest sensation. It also didn’t help I had a drink or two. I got back in the boat and refused to go back into the lake. I’ve never gone back to swim in a lake again.

Had you never been in a pool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a boat or dock - my kids will wear them as long as I have a say

This. My family has a place on a lake. It's very very deep but is so clear you can't tell. I've heard of adults who can swim jump in and try to get something from the bottom and drown on the way back up.

And you believed that?

I believe it. I grew up by the beach in California. I spent countless hours in powerful waves, did junior lifeguards for a couple of seasons and swam around a pier, was on swim team and we sometimes went to the beach to swim a mile in the ocean.

The first time I jumped off a boat into a lake I panicked. I was so used to the buoyancy of salt water bringing you back up to the surface. It was the strangest sensation. It also didn’t help I had a drink or two. I got back in the boat and refused to go back into the lake. I’ve never gone back to swim in a lake again.

Had you never been in a pool?

Of course, I was on swim team. But I had never jumped off a boat into a lake before. I had jumped off boats and even a piers into the ocean multiple times. I jumped into the ocean, and I floated right back to the surface.

The lake was surprisingly colder than I expected (and the Pacific Ocean is cold so I was used to the cold), and the water felt almost slimy and it was murky. When I didn't start to rise to the surface I panicked and I think k tensing up then exhaling made it worse. When I made it back to the surface I got right back into the boat and have never ever gone into a lake again.

I now have a phobia of lakes. Seems so crazy but just the thought of being on a lake scares me even though this happened 25 years ago.