Boating season is in full swing throughout the Northwest. Fishing boats, ski boats, wake boats, jet skis, kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, pontoon rafts, you name it, are out on the water or headed there. Idaho has a remarkable variety of lakes, reservoirs and rivers accessible to and suitable for recreational boating, whatever the “boat” used.

There is, of course, cost involved and learning required to have fun boating. The more experience you have and the more you know about your particular style of boating, the more fun you can have.

Every year, though, there are a few people who, for a whole variety of reasons, have their boating fun go bad. Then family and friends, or perhaps some folks in the vicinity, or a marine deputy if one is nearby, do their best to come to the rescue. Most rescues succeed and these events become simply inconvenient. A very few, however, turn tragic.

To help prevent tragedies Idaho law requires every boat have a life jacket for each occupant. Every child 14 years old or younger, on a boat less than 19 feet long, must be wearing a life jacket. That applies to all kinds of boats.

There is more information on boating laws in Idaho at the Idaho Parks website, parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/activities/boating.

Just remember: the single most important thing people can do to stay safe on the water is wear a life jacket.

On May 5, a woman fell off her paddleboard on a mountain lake near the main highway between Bend, Oregon, and the Willamette Valley. The 43-year-old was pulled from the water and CPR started. Responding medics were unable to revive her. She was the sixth drowning case involving someone out to enjoy water recreation this spring in Oregon.

There was a common factor among all the tragedies. None of the victims wore a life jacket.

The single most important thing people can do to stay safe on the water is wear a life jacket.

Cold shock causes drownings on Idaho lakes almost every year. The “shock” is a reaction to being plunged into cold water. The first part of the reaction is to inhale sharply. If your head’s underwater at that point you inhale water. If you’re wearing a life jacket the chances are very good your head won’t go under.

The second effect of cold shock is to hyperventilate, to breathe rapidly. That will subside within a minute as your body adjusts to the cold, provided you control an urge to panic. Continued hyperventilation due to panic leads to passing out. Only wearing a life jacket that holds your face above water will prevent drowning then.

If the water temperature is less than 60 degrees, you’ll want to immediately self-rescue or call for help. If you remain fully in the water in 15 minutes or less your hands will become cold and your fingers stop functioning. Your arms and legs stop responding because they’re cold and you won’t be able to swim. With a life jacket on, though, you’ll stay alive with a chance of rescue for up to 6 hours.

The single most important thing people can do to stay safe on the water is wear a life jacket.

May 6 started off warm and sunny in the Salt Lake Valley. By mid-afternoon it was 79 degrees when two girls, 18 and 17 years old, launched their inflatable pool rafts into Utah Lake. Neither wore, nor had, a life jacket.

While they were on the water a cold front blew through. Winds gusted to 40 miles per hour. Eight days later their bodies were recovered, washed up on the lake’s shore, six miles apart.

The single most important thing people can do to stay safe on the water is wear a life jacket.

Most folks plan to stay mostly dry on their boat, jet ski, canoe, kayak, raft or paddle board on the water. They don’t plan to fall overboard, capsize or see their watercraft sink. They don’t head out when they see high winds forecast or blowing. Winds do pop up, though, producing big waves that can capsize boats and blow them away from their passengers in seconds. Smaller, lighter boats especially can blow away faster than a person can swim.

There are a lot of things that can happen on a big reservoir or river. Most of them are a ton of fun. Don’t let something unexpected turn what should have been a bit of inconvenience into a terrible tragedy.

The single most important thing people can do to stay safe on the water is wear a life jacket.

Dave Finkelnburg is a longtime Idahoan, a former newspaper journalist, and is currently semi-retired from an engineering career.