Basic Spincasting Module

Suggested Activities

Sink Fast 

Students will discover the problems encountered when they try to put on a personal floatation device (PFD) when the boat is in trouble.

Chose four individuals to sit in chairs representing a rowboat in the front of the room. PFD’s are placed under the chairs - one very large, one very small, one in poor condition, and one unapproved ski belt. All are turned inside out and tangled. 

Seat a larger person in the chair with the small PFD and a small person in the chair with the large PFD. Give a signal to indicate the “boat” is sinking. Time participants to see how quickly they can correctly put on a PFD. (Very few can do so within 60 seconds, but due to improper fit, etc., the “victims” would drown anyway.  

Discuss the obvious problems with improper fit, poor conditions, and improper wearing technique that all result from not putting the PFD on ahead of time. Remind students that 85% of drowning victims did not wear a PFD, even though one was available and that a struggling non-swimmer usually drowns within 60 seconds.

Flotation Fashion Show

To familiarize students with the features of PFD’s and the various types available, have a “fashion show.” Have students research PFD’s and write the main features of one PFD on an index card to prepare for the show. (Some sources of information are DNR conservation officers and manufacturers.) Select students to model PFD’s and a master of ceremonies to read cards describing the features of each PFD. Other students can play the role of the audience.

As the PFD is modeled, the presenter should enthusiastically present its features, just as at a real fashion show. For example, a PFD commonly used by anglers could be presented as follows:  “The latest style, shown today in high visibility orange, is now available for $___ at your local sporting goods store. Note the freedom of movement for casting your favorite lure, the wrap around design for protection from hypothermia, and the stylish look for you backwoods swingers.” With creativity, all the advantages and disadvantages of certain PFD’s can be molded into a couple of sentences. 

After the “Fashion show,” discuss the importance of choosing the correct PFD for you and wearing it. Remind them that drowning is the second cause of accidental death for people younger than 44 years of age, most drowning victims know how to swim, and a PFD alone will not keep you alive in cold water.

The Great Lifejacket Race

Students will practice donning a PFD correctly during a relay race. Demonstrate the correct way to wear a PFD and then divide your students into two or more even groups. Give each group a PFD (same type). Each member of the team must correctly don the PFD, step across a predetermined line, return to the team, and give the PFD to the next team member who must repeat the process. The first team to complete the task correctly wins.

Cold Hand Luke 

Cold water can cause you to loose feeling in your limbs, interfere with your ability to move or think, and even cause death in some cases. This is a demonstration of some of the effects of cold water, even over a short period of time.

Water conducts heat away from the body twenty-five times faster than air and a victim could die as fast as 60 minutes in water less than 40 oF. In water of 50 oF, you have a 50-50 chance of swimming beyond 50 minutes without a protective PFD. 

To emphasize this, fill a five-gallon bucket with ice water. Put some change in the bottom (pennies work fine) and invite volunteers to get the change back out. They can keep all the change they pick up, if they can keep their hand in the water for three minutes.  If they can’t keep their hand in the water for three minutes, they can’t keep the change. 

Point out the decreased dexterity, white skin, lack of sensitivity, and weak pulse of the exposed limb caused by only a few minutes in cold water.

Caution: You may want to use an adult volunteer if you are working with younger students. 

Find-a-Float

Discuss with students what they might do if someone were drowning. Remind them that many victims drown within ten feet of safety.  

Give students a beach ball, fishing pole, stick, and milk jug. Use a rope to represent the shoreline. Instruct students to come up with ways to use the items on hand to save the “victim,” an individual who stands 10 feet or so on the other side of the jump rope. 

Time the students to see how long it takes to figure out a reasonable method of rescue. If a student goes into the water to rescue the “victim,” instruct the other students that both are now in danger of drowning. The general rule for such situations is “reach, throw, row, go.” Reach out to the individual with an oar, pole, etc. if you can. Toss something the individual can use to stay afloat. Row toward them in a boat if you can. Go into the water ONLY if you are a certified Red Cross life saver because too often the rescuer becomes a second victim.

Captain Alcohol

Alcohol is a significant factor in water related mishaps, as many as half, and possibly much more according to some studies. Remind students that alcohol slows reaction time, diminishes peripheral vision, affects red-green color vision, affects dexterity, and dulls the thinking process.

Choose a volunteer. First, place a tight fitting hood such as a wet suit hood or removable coat hood on the volunteer to represent the effects of alcohol on the thought process. (In fact, this action does dull the thinking process as a volunteer has trouble hearing and may feel closed-in.) Next, place dark sunglasses on the volunteer to demonstrate how red and green (found in colored lights on boats and traffic signals) are the first colors that an intoxicated person begins to overlook.  Next, tape large cardboard blinders to the sides of the sunglasses to demonstrate the loss of peripheral vision. Then place large mittens on the individual to portray loss of dexterity.  Finally, add lead weights or similar material to the mittens to slow the volunteer’s reaction time. 

Instruct the volunteer to put on a PFD, which is almost impossible at this point. 

Discuss why drinking and boating is even more dangerous than drinking and driving. Some reasons include no “roadways” in the water, combined effects of sun and wind with alcohol, and increased danger following a mishap if you’re thrown from the boat.