The Need for Safety Plan: Thinking the Unthinkable

[Dr. Joshua]

Mates:
I have a Tanzer 27 in San Carlos, MX, but this time of year sail my 12-foot home-made boat built around a mainsail I've owned for 55 years. All sailing in 17-acre lake (pond to non-Coloradans) just northwest of Denver International Airport.
Since my lake is smallish and no more than 15 feet deep, I've been in a comfort zone for years - meaning I stopped wearing a life jacket or placing any flotation device in the boat.
Last week I dumped a sailboat for the first time in more than half a century of sailing - sudden breeze that gusted to about 18 knots, which is typical lake sailing in Colo.
Among the avalanche of thoughts as I slid into the lukewarm water:
1. No life vest
2. No safety plan
3. Can I make it to shore at 65 after a sedentary legal career
4. What an idiot!!!
5. Don't panic (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and years in the courtroom with (sometimes) mean judges and many nasty opposing attorneys).
Best thought was this: We've taught each of our 13 grandchildren to float on their backs as an all-important survival method; that ultimately saved me and prompted this cautionary tale to you all.
Don't be a dumb lawyer/retired philosophy professor who should know better. Live to sail another glorious day.
-Doc Schaefer

[BowmanMarketing]

Always have a safety plan. Lots of good boating safety resources available online. Doesn't matter how good of a swimmer you are, stuff happens!

[docrn]

Glad you lived to share your story. Not really a survival plan per se but get a inflatable life jacket and wear it everytime you are under way. I feel like I could swim and tread water for days (in warm water) if I needed to but the thing that worries me most is losing consciousness from a head injury caused by a collision or accidental jibe.