Within a heartbeat the three fishermen were in the water, clinging to their swamped 22-foot fiberglass boat two miles off the White Lake entrance, Lake Michigan. Fortunately the fiberglass boat didn’t sink, although it did roll over trapping lifejackets and other safety equipment inside the hull.

A nearby boater spotted the floundering trio and plucked them from the lake. Lucky? You bet. Several miles off shore, 2-3 foot seas, safety equipment, including life jackets trapped in the capsized hull, 60-degree water- not a pretty picture, possibly made less pretty had there not been boaters nearby to assist.

Later I spoke with the captain when he came to Station Muskegon to claim a few boat items that our rescue crew had nabbed from the water. The captain said he was trolling in 2-3 foot seas when a large wave crashed over the stern; smaller waves then crawled over the stern and within seconds the boat swamped, yawed and capsized.

He was lucky the fiberglass hull prevented the boat from sinking. It also provided a means of floatation since none of the fishermen were wearing life jackets. I asked him what lessons, if any, he learned from the ordeal. "Having the life jackets readily at hand," he said. "We would’ve had to dive under to reach the jackets and the flares if help had not arrived." He went on to tell me that he almost took his wife along. Oh my goodness, I thought, your boating days would’ve been over, or least, your boating days without wearing a life jacket would have been over.

I told him the story of the young men whose boat sank in Manistee Lake in the spring and how one of them attempted to put on a life jacket in the water and nearly choked himself when he put his head through the shoulder slot. Laugh you might. You’d be surprised, or maybe not, the number of times I request boaters to demonstrate donning a life jacket, especially the Type III life jacket, and they can’t.

The Type III is a floatation device that slips around the neck (like a ox collar) and fastens at the waist with a strap that runs around the backside and snaps in the front. Confusing. Apparently so, since many times boaters fail to properly don the Type lll. In some cases it doesn’t surprise me, especially when the Type III was sealed in the manufacturer’s plastic wrap and never opened, which tells its own story.

I wouldn’t concern myself with such blind optimism but the fact is nearly 7,000 recreational boaters have died over the last ten years simply because they failed to wear a life jacket. In other words they were not prepared. Make no mistake about it, the marine environment is a dangerous environment and to go out into it unprepared is foolish. I hear boaters glibly boast how if it’s their time, so be it. Well, let me say this, if they end up in the water without a life jacket they may have more time than they would like to think about "their time" as they struggle to stay afloat.

By the way, trying to locate a person in the water especially without a life jacket offers a tremendous challenge to rescuers. A Coastie at Station Michigan City recently told me that when he was stationed in Florida he would conduct "person in the water (PIW)" search drills. The crew would take a coconut and paint a smiling face on it and drop it in the water then steam several hundred yards away and then steam back to see if they could find the smiling coconut. Often, the nut ended up with a sad face, as crews failed to locate it. And when they did spot it, it was usually within yards of their boat. Undoubtedly, Lake Michigan’s close choppy wave action would offer a huge challenge to rescuers.

So, don’t be nuts, Boat Smart- be prepared, wear a life jacket and a bright orange one at that if your heading out into Lake Michigan.

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Boat Smart is now on the Internet: www.boatsmart.net (includes Lake Michigan water temperatures and local weather).

Use channel 16 for emergencies, and channel 9 for calling fellow boaters.