Canoe tragedy - now a third child has died

[edam]

desperately sad story

Ours used www.splashabout.com/en/float-jacket-with-adjustable-buoyancy-red-navy/these when we were teaching them to swim, mainly until they could float on their backs.

Were they using something like this?

Your link's not working for me, expat.

I think sometimes BA and LJ are terms that are used interchangeably, but generally speaking BA will be more of a thinnish vest while LJ will be bulkier (hence why not very comfy for paddling etc) and will have a large collar that will keep your head afloat.

lifejacket

bouyancy aid

A life jacket will have a bit behind your head, and more in front of you than behind so that you float more on your back with the collar supporting your head out of the water. They must be for both your weight and size, with all straps done up properley including the one under your crotch.

From reading I think they were wearing something like this
And should ideally have worn this

Small children should always wear proper life jackets and there should be a minimum 1:1 adult/child ratio. 4 children and at least two who probably couldn't be counted on to listen/behave well/appreciate the danger of standing up etc...just asking for an accident to happen.

Has the mother of the two little boys lost her husband as well?

Oh my god.

It seems that way ilove

It's terriby sad but they simply should not have been there like that. We are up in the west coast at the moment and the sea is really, really cold. To put 4 young children and two adults in a boat going out to sea without life jackets for the adults is reckless imo and the families have paid an awful price.

This is so tragic, but I cannot believe they went out in choppy seas in a canoe which is a vessel more suited to navigating rivers and takes a lot of skill to navigate through rough waters. They are very easily capsized. I spent my youth up and down rivers on canoes like this and my parents would never ever let us, or take us out on the open lake with one, too risky. I am sure they probably made that crossing loads of times without incident, but it only takes once.

I feel so sad for the survivors of this, my heart goes out to them. I also used to live in the highlands and I know how cold that water would be. Utterly horrendous.

I have a 5 yr old. They are so very little

It wasn't rough waters. Everyone said that the water was like a millpond. Obviously the thought of what would happen if they capsized never entered their thoughts.

it wasn't choppy yesterday, foxyloxy - by all accounts it was perfectly calm & a lovely day

maybe that made them a bit over-confident

It's open, though, bis and awfully, terribly cold at all times of the year. We live quite a bit lower in the Western Highlands and the water is freezing.

Trouble is water that looks flat is actually still moving at a fair pace. The sea has massive power.

oh I'm so sorry, i saw a clip on the news and it looked rough. How terribly tragic.

I believe the water is actually warmer up there, expat - it gets the Gulf Stream (palm trees grow at Plockton)

Just heartbreaking

Oh, Ponders, believe me, it's not very warm at all. Have been up that way myself. It's so open. Very beautiful, though.

The water is too cold for you to fall in it and be in it for any length of time without suffering severe problems.

So, so sad for those poor families and those poor babies.

Does it really matter anymore.

How dreadful.

So painful and sad. I know where that girl died, my daughter died in one of those rooms, too. My heart is breaking for those families.

Epat - I thought of A when they said where the little girl was. There was that other little girl too - the one with E Coli. Is Yorkhill always in the news so much or do we notice it more now?

It's the place to go in Scotland for very specialised treatment of children is all.

Just very sad to think of those children, possibly in the same room where A left us, too, and how horrible it is for their families.

Very