Several years back I was captaining a research vessel up in Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey. I had three crew members aboard, a gentleman in his early fourties and two University of Maryland college students including, a guy and a pretty co-ed both in their early twenties. The day was drawing to a close and we had one last sample to collect. There was a thunderstorm just offshore pushing some 20 knot gusts and light rain toward the inlet. There was a spring high tide around mid afternoon and it was now bailing out with a current I estimated to be close to 10 knots. With the wind bucking the tide we were fighting a standing 4 foot chop in the inlet. I had our twenty-foot research vessel turned into the sea when waves began breaking over the bow. This was my first time ever running this particular research vessel and I really did not know how seaworthy it was.
So as to not alarm my crew I casually suggested that we don some life vests until we were out of the rough water. As I slipped my vest over my foul weather gear the young male college student started to laugh. In an effort to be cool in front of the pretty co-ed he says to me, “What, do they not teach you southern boys how to swim?” I picked up one of our research markers, a 12-inch diameter styro-foam ball, and threw it overboard. The hard running current quickly grabbed the ball and within seconds it was out of sight. Wet, cold, exhausted, and tired of the smart alecks show off attitude I turned to him and replied, “Sure they teach us how to swim, I just have not figured out how to make it back to the boat fighting a 10 knot current in 50 degree water in order to drive you, anchor boy, back to the safety of your mommy.” Though my attitude may not have been proper, within minutes everyone on the boat was donning their life vests.
According to statistics 90 percent of boating deaths are a result of drowning and of those who drowned 80 percent were not wearing personal floatation devices (PFDs). Furthermore, the law enforcement officials that patrol our wate