My seventh grade class helped with a capsized boat this morning. A sudden gust caught the just launched vessel off guard and she went over. The captain and a quickly responding power boat brought the vessel right again, but the scene sparked something in the kids. This was a real emergency, like the sort we've been training for. What would have happened if the captain had been caught under the boat? What would have happened if the power boat hadn't been there? Why didn't the captain get hypothermia in the water? What should we have done if . . . ?
There are few aggressive sailors who haven't capsized a boat at one time or another. In a small boat it's generally more of an embarrassment than an emergency. But for these kids participating in a genuine life drama it was exciting. Their assignment is to come back with an intelligent question relating to that capsizing. I'm looking forward to their thoughts, because the more they have thought out the "what ifs" the better are their chances of acting appropriately when a real emergency happens.
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