Deputy: Snug fit can mean you live

Two boaters pulled in the past week from the Rogue River started their trips wearing life jackets. But they didn't fasten them.

One, Carmen Derrico of Medford, drowned last Friday near Shady Cove.

"If only it had been secured, he'd be alive today. I'm convinced of that," said Jackson County sheriff's marine deputy Wally Ramsay.

Ramsay says that many boaters think that if they've got a life jacket on, "it's good enough." But he and other rescue officials say that just wearing a life jacket often isn't good enough.

At least three times so far this season, boaters floating the Rogue have fallen off their crafts and lost unfastened or loosely fastened jackets.

The most tragic case was Derrico's. But rescuers also pulled a Medford woman from the water this week after she fell off an inflatable kayak and her life jacket came off in the water.

In early July, a Philomath woman's boat hit a tree, throwing her into the water. Her loose life jacket was ripped from her before rescuers pulled her out of the river.

Neither woman was seriously injured.

The key to safety in a life jacket, said chief Bob Miller of Fire District 4 in Shady Cove, is the snugness of the fit.

"Just make sure it's tight. It should be snug on you, not loose," he said. Loose jackets easily can be pulled off by the river's swift waters.

Boaters also should inspect their life jackets to make sure they don't have loose buckles, frayed straps or tears, he said. If they do, they should be replaced.

Boaters should also ensure their life jackets are proper for their weight (tags showing weight ranges should be on the jacket) and that children are not put in adult life jackets, as the jackets will slip over their heads.

But life jackets can't help at all if boaters don't wear them.

Oregon law requires only that children under 12 wear a life jacket in boats, and that boaters carry and have readily available a Coast Guard approved personal flotation device for each of the boat's passengers.

So many people don't bother to wear life jackets at all, choosing instead to carry them in the boat.

Excuses, said Miller, include: "I'm a good swimmer," or "I'm not going to flip over." Some take the life jacket off when they're drifting slowly and forget about it.

But of the 30 or so river rescues by his department this summer, Miller said, he doesn't think any of the victims had been wearing a life jacket.

Jack Henson, owner of Raft the Rogue in Shady Cove, where Derrico went to rent a raft, said a lot of boaters start out with life jackets on, then get confident and take them off. He tells rafters the life jackets won't do them any good unless they're wearing them.

Asked if he thought Derrico's death would have an impact on people, Henson said, "absolutely."