Teaching water safety

Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

Eager children learned the basics of paddle boarding at a water safety event held at Penticton's Sudbury Beach on Saturday.

The important training was part of a day of information provided by AdventureSmart, a national program.

"Our key message with AdventureSmart is we are doing search and rescue prevention awareness, where we focus on the  three Ts, our trip plan, taking essentials and training," said Melissa Goertzen, an educator with AdventureSmart.

Goertzen said one of the reasons they decided to do the paddle smart event at the beach on Skaha Lake is because of the recent incident where a man drowned.

The man, a visitor from Romania, was paddleboarding on the lake in early July and fell in after being hit by a gust of wind.

"Because of what happened we were able to partner up with organizations in Penticton," said Goertzen.

The event was also tied to National Drowning Prevention Week,.

The busy afternoon on the sun-baked beach included talking to people, a mini safety and paddle lesson for children and games.

A table piled high with information for people to browse through was also available at the scene.

Darcey Godfrey, the owner/operator of Glow SUP Adventures, who partnered with AdventureSmart, Hoodoo Adventures and Penticton and District Search and Rescue, for the event , said she was contacted by them right after the incident and was immediately receptive.

"I was here when the man drowned," she said. "And I can't tell you how may times I strike up a conversation with people going out on their own boards and ask them if they would like to borrow a leash and they are not interested.

So I am just hoping that people will stop for a moment and just consider the safety part like watching the weather, saying when they will be back and having that life jacket, so we can all keep enjoying this wonderful sport for a long time."

One of the children participating, Tea Thomas from Alberta, said it was good lesson.

"It's in case you get caught in an emergency you know what to do so you will be OK," she said.

Visitor John Anderson said he grew up around water safety and considered what the folks were doing Saturday at the beach to be wonderful.

"This is totally awesome," he said.

AdventureSmart also does trail and snow safety events and much more. They will be holding a trail sense day promoting search and rescue prevention, starting at 10 a.m., Sunday at the Poplar Grove Road parking lot in Penticton.