REACTION:  OCEAN SAFETY

 

By:  Jill Davis

                      

 

This past Friday we completed our last ocean safety at Canoe Beach.  It was a really good experience.

 

Starting off with a few quick stretches and warm ups, we headed straight into the ocean and began the process.  First we practice life saving which we first run from the beach with the red life-saving tubes and swam out to our “drowning victims” and brought them to safety on land.  Secondly, we did a Jet Ski pick-up drill, which was the best part of the day.  It’s challenging to hold on for their life when two people on the outside of you are trying to do the same thing.

 

Last, we treaded water for 30 minutes and then we started the distance laps.  For this task, the only two things needed to complete it was 1 minimum swimming skills and 2 teamwork and involvement.

 

Leadership by our group leaders was a big role to live up to.  They had the responsibility of making sure that everyone was in sight and that they weren’t having any troubles.  From my experience, my group leader was also an inspiration.  He kept on telling us to try harder and do the best you could.

 

When lots of people are involved in an activity this water safety, especially at the ocean, it is very important that there is no messing around.  People’s lives are at risk.  I’m glad that as a whole class we took it pretty seriously.

 

“If I never learned the concept of saving someone I would have probably gotten myself drowned as well as the person I was trying to save.  I got the feel of how hard it is to pull someone into shore and how careful you have to be when their unconscious.  I’m really happy that I got a chance to go to water safety again because it was a memorable and a fun learning experience for all of us.”  Kelly Sullivan