Another reminder to wear your life vests!!!!!!

[rc5695]

My rules are all kids under 12 must have lifevests on at all times, in the boat or out of it. Nobody tubes, skis, etc. w/o a vest, even though I used to LOVE wakebaording w/o one when I was a teen...(wasn't req'd to be worn in MI, only in the boat). After 12 it goes by their abilities as-to whether they need one in the water. After the kids have been in the water a while we'll make them get one sometimes when we can see they're getting tired. Most people I've taken out are very aware of their abilities, and we don't do alcohol on our boat. The scary thing is that most of the time we're in 50-300' of water, so if somebody goes down you're NOT going to find them. We always make sure we can see all heads at all times. Having grown up on a lake, i'm definitly more comfortable around the water and more relaxed than my wife.

As for body surfing, we used to do it all the time when we were kids. Dad would set the speed on his Nautique a little above idle and we'd hold onto the platform. You'd have to work pretty hard to get your foot moved forward enough to kick the prop, esp as a kid and with the boat moving forward over an idle. I have let my kids do it a couple of times, but the fumes from my Moomba seem worse than my dad's old inboards used to be...Not sure why... I dont' let them do it anymore though.

Another safety point that we need be mindful of is the boat running while people are getting on and off the platform. I'll shut it off when somebody's getting back on the boat if they want, but I don't have a habbit of it. Growing up on inboards, we never shut it off, and I guess I picked that habit up from my dad... It never goes back into gear unless I can see all of their body up on the platform though.