THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9406300198
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Over Easy
SOURCE: Jo-Ann Clegg
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Russ Brubaker, make that Lt. Col. R.E. Brubaker, U.S. Army, Ret., has some pretty basic advice for boaters this weekend.
``Don't,'' he says, stopping for emphasis, ``fall off the boat.''
``But,'' he adds quickly, ``if you do, make sure you're wearing a PFD.''
That's shorthand for personal flotation device, which means a life jacket or something else approved by the Coast Guard to keep you safely afloat until someone with a strong stroke, a boat hook or a life ring can haul you out of the water.
PFDs are something that Brubaker and a lot of other people in the area feel strongly about. So strongly, in fact, that they volunteer a lot of time each year through organizations such as the Coast Guard Auxiliary and Power Squadrons teaching and reminding recreational boaters of how to look out for themselves and their passengers.
Brubaker is commander of Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 57 here in Virginia Beach. He and his counterpart, Dick Nitschke, commander of the Virginia Beach Power Squadron, were among a small group of boating safety advocates who went to the Virginia Beach Municipal Center a few weeks ago to receive a proclamation from the mayor.
What the mayor proclaimed was a week devoted to safe boating. What Brubaker would like to see is that every week is actually a safe boating week, especially when it comes to the use of those PFDs.
``Nobody ever expects to fall overboard,'' Brubaker said, ``but they do.''
Coast Guard reports abound with cases of lives that were saved because the person who took an unexpected plunge was wearing a PFD and of about equal numbers of cases in which lives were lost for want of one.
If this weekend runs true to form on the waters in and around Virginia Beach, we'll probably see examples of both.
It is the nature of boating and the boater that accidents do happen to people who think it's never going to happen to them.
One of the things the Coast Guard Auxiliary does is offer courtesy inspections. ``If the captain wants, we'll go aboard with our clipboards and check-off lists. No tickets or anything like that, just a courtesy inspection of the craft and equipment,'' Brubaker said. ``That includes PFDs.''
He had an unsettling experience recently during an inspection at a local marina. ``The captain welcomed me aboard his 19 footer,'' he said, ``and this toddler, maybe two or three years old was there. I asked to see the life jackets and he had six, just about the right number for a boat that size.
``But,'' he added, ``not one of them was the right size for a small child. There was nothing at all on there that would have helped him.''
Brubaker pointed this out to the boater, who thanked him, then started up his engine and left.
``I think the grandfather in me came out then,'' Brubaker said. ``I wanted to lecture him like I would my own son, tell him not to leave the dock until he went up to the store and bought a life jacket for that kid.
``They had them right there, and they go for as little as five dollars for the ones you can use close to shore,'' he said.
Having PFDs aboard is not the only thing, however. Having them on the passengers is what's really important
``Half the time when we do find life jackets, they're still in the cellophane wrappers,'' Brubaker said.
That's not much help in a place where summer afternoon storms plop down from the atmosphere, pick up the waters, give them a rip-roaring shake, then take off again, leaving boaters shaking their heads and thanking the good Lord for deliverance.
``The prudent captain says `Please put your life jacket on,' before he leaves the dock,'' Brubaker said. ``Once you're caught in a storm you get so busy that you can forget about (PFDs) until it's too late.''
I can attest to that. It happened to our family aboard a chartered 34-footer in the Albemarle Sound a few years back. After spending what seemed like six hours of my life in a 10-minute squall - complete with a water spout - I wiped the foam off my mouth, checked the mirror to see if I was as green as I felt and realized that, in our battle to keep the boat afloat and in the channel, not one of us had thought to grab a life jacket.
Looking back, what we probably should have had was a Russ Brubaker on the dock telling us, in a grandfatherly way, to get those PFDs out of the locker and put them on before we pulled away.
And if he, or someone else from his outfit, is hanging around your marina this weekend preaching that message, listen to him or her.
A bright orange life jacket may not be particularly fashionable, but then neither is an all too common alternative.
A body bag, I believe it's called. by CNB