Sad, reading the news after last weekend. Seven people drowned in the Pacific Northwest. Why?
It was hot. People wanted to cool off. Beyond that, there were as many stories as bodies.
People get careless.
People can’t swim.
People get tired and slip under the surface.
People slip blithely into calm water on an inflatable raft, and the next thing you know, they’re tumbling through rocks and whitewater.
All the reports involved people 15 years old and older. It’s hard to tell a teenager or young adult what to do. We’ve all been there — full of ourselves, cocky, sure about our place in the world.
“Nobody’s gonna tell me how to live to 23.”
Then, in a second, gone.
So, what’s our point? We at the Hood River Hotel live at the center of a water sports town. Windsurfing. Kiteboarding. SUPs and kayaks and rafts and swimmers and anglers.
Be careful? Duh.
Given the recent losses, we’d like to speak to parents about preparing your kids for time in and on the water. Help them become smarter, more cautious young adults.
And old adults.
If you’re a parent, take extra care to make sure your kids are safe. DO NOT take your eyes off the little buggers. It only takes a second to aspirate some water, and go under.
There’s much more to preparedness than this. You owe it to yourself and your babies to get smart.
