Summer is always a busy time for Mainers, but 2016 unfortunately is turning out to be no less so for people trained in water rescues.
Eight people died in 2015 in recreational boating accidents in Maine, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. So far this year, 18 people have died from boating accidents in the waters of New England. Of those 18 fatalities — six of which occurred in Maine — 14 involved people who were not wearing life jackets.
Drownings in Maine, including deaths that do not involve boats, are on pace to exceed the 20 officially recorded in 2014 but not the 45 that occurred in Maine last year. According to the state medical examiner’s office, there have been 13 confirmed drownings in Maine so far this year, and drowning is suspected as the cause of death in another three fatalities.
Lt. David T. Bourbeau, chief of Waterways Division Management for the U.S. Coast Guard in South Portland, said Thursday that the number of boating fatalities in Maine and New England so far this year is concerning.
“It’s been a really bad start for us,” he said. “It’s troubling. That is why we are trying to be proactive [in encouraging safe practices].”
The number of people who venture out on the water without wearing life jackets is a top concern for the state and federal agencies that respond to emergency calls, Bourbeau added. Maine law does not require people on boats to wear life jackets unless they are 10 years old or younger, while federal law requires children 12 and under to wear life jackets when on a vessel in marine waters.
“I think people think all they need is to be a good swimmer to not worry about drowning,” Bourbeau said. “But there are a lot of other factors such as, in our area, cold water. The body reacts a certain way, and it takes your breath away — it really does. So your initial reaction is to take a big breath, but if your head is not above water, you’re just going to take in water.”
He compared the importance of wearing life jackets for boaters to the protection motorcycle riders get by wearing helmets.
“We know that is the one thing that will save your life on the ocean, and if you choose not to do so, you are putting yourself and others at risk because someone has to go save you,” Bourbeau said.
A spike in drownings
Of the 16 confirmed or suspected drownings in Maine this year, 10 have occurred in the past six weeks, as the summertime boating and swimming season has kicked in and people have flocked to the state’s lakes and coastal ports to enjoy the scenery and cool breezes.
People who have lost their lives in Maine waters since late May include a 4-year-old boy who died in St. Albans, a Dover-Foxcroft man who drowned in Long Pond, a Massachusetts man whose body was found in the Penobscot River a day after his kayak capsized and a Parsonsfield man who drowned in York County.
In that same time frame, three apparent drowning victims have been recovered off the Portland waterfront, another from the Presumpscot River in Falmouth, and two people drowned offshore off Gouldsboro after their kayaks capsized during a squall.
In some of these cases, the victims disappeared into the water without any witnesses; in others, people saw them go under but could not respond quickly enough to help. Sometimes, according to experts, swimmers can drown in plain sight, unnoticed by people who are standing nearby — though no one has suggested that has happened with any of the recent drownings in Maine.
While some drownings can happen relatively quickly — if a person sinks quickly, has a medical condition or is knocked unconscious — others can be preceded by a decrease in body temperatures to below-normal levels, also known as hypothermia, in which the victim more slowly succumbs to the chill of the water and then loses consciousness before drowning.
Cpl. John MacDonald of the Maine Warden Service said Thursday that hypothermia is rarely a concern during freshwater rescues in the summer, when it takes a lot longer for a person in the water to lose significant body heat. It is a more common factor in the spring and fall, when temperatures in lakes and ponds are frequently dip below 70 degrees.
The primary challenge for many people, he said, is just keeping themselves afloat.
“The biggest factor for us is that they’re not wearing life jackets,” MacDonald said, echoing Bourbeau. “You hear every excuse about why [boaters] are not wearing them.”
Some say they don’t like the look of wearing them, and others say they are uncomfortable, MacDonald said. The warmer the weather is, the more emergency calls the warden service gets, he added — and the more frequently alcohol use is a factor.
In the ocean, hypothermia is more of an urgent threat, because water temperatures along Maine’s coast often remain between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the summer.
According to the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, hypothermia can occur in waters with cold or even moderate temperatures. Immersion up to the neck in water temperatures below 70 degrees Fahrenheit can result in the body quickly losing its heat to the surrounding water, which chills the blood and can impair the heart and brain.
Several hypothermia survival charts posted online, including by the U.S. Search and Rescue Task Force, indicate that exhaustion or unconsciousness can occur in water between 50 and 60 degrees within one or two hours. People immersed in water in that temperature range generally would be expected to survive for one to six hours.
The Coast Guard’s Bourbeau urged boaters to dress in anticipation of the water’s chill, not the mild breeze — a tough message to convey in summer, when Maine’s air temperatures rise above 80 degrees, he said.
“Who really wants to wear a wetsuit or a drysuit or warm clothes on an 80-degree day?” Bourbeau said. “Honestly, that’s one thing that’s going to save your life.”
He encouraged boaters to make sure the operator is sober and to file a float plan with a responsible person on shore who knows where the boat will be operating and when the boaters are expected to return, “so when you don’t return, they can call or start looking for you.”
In addition to wearing life jackets and dressing in anticipation of cold water immersion, boating safety experts urge boaters to take with them communications equipment, including a VHF radio or fully-charged cellphone. The Coast Guard offers a free app for mobile devices that allows users to file a float plan with friends or family, review a safety checklist or contact officials in the event of an emergency.
Other equipment, such as whistles or fog horns, a portable bilge pump or bailer, and devices such as emergency position indicating radio beacons or radar reflectors, are among items recommended for boating expeditions by the Coast Guard and the Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides and Instructors.
If in doubt, wait it out
Checking weather forecasts, anticipating conditions on the water and exercising caution also can go a long way toward avoiding tragedies.
Last summer, a Rockport teenager survived rough weather conditions during a solo kayak excursion off Swans Island by taking shelter on a nearby island and waiting it out. He safely paddled back to Swans Island the next day without realizing the Coast Guard had been looking for him.
For Bourbeau, the rescue Sunday of seven kayakers from Burnt Porcupine Island off Bar Harbor is an example of proper planning paving the way for a successful outcome. Planning doesn’t always ensure a good result, he said, but it definitely helps.
“These kayakers went out, and they all had safety gear. They had a plan, and they put that plan into action when the weather changed,” Bourbeau said. “They got to where they were, they decided the weather was too bad to risk [returning], and they stayed there and contacted the Coast Guard to request assistance because [they said], ‘We don’t think we can do this.’”
“They made the correct decision, instead of putting people’s lives in danger in 55-degree water in the evening,” Bourbeau said. “It could have been a really bad situation.”