When I was a young teenager, on vacation with my family at Christina Lake, as we did every year with the family and relatives, we would swim, boat… One day we went out in the boat, my cousin was with us. He was just a baby. When we came back to the dock and were getting out of the boat, I was holding my baby cousin, having one foot on the boat and another one on the dock.

The boat began to move away and me (holding the baby) fell off into the water. My baby cousin came out of my arms. I popped up but he didn’t. People was screaming, searching for the baby. Finally the bay came up to the surface and we got him to the dock and all as well. It was a very eye-opening experience for many I am sure.

Since then I have joined the Coast Guard and work on the water and strive for safety as it played a part in my summers as a young teenager. Fortunately the outcome was good and everything worked out. In the hindsight, the baby should probably not have been on the boat or at least in a PFD of some sort. This was 35 years ago where PFD were not at the forefront for water users. This is my story and probably helped draw me to the Coast Guard.