Here’s why you’ll want to ditch the lake floatie this summer

When summer-time hits, and people are ready to enjoy the water, a popular accessory usually includes your favourite floatie. They can be fun and they can be cute, but they also offer lake-goers a false sense of security.

Most of the time, they’re not completely stable and they can deflate, detach and most importantly, they can carry you far away in open water.

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“The wind picks up, you start to get out further from shore, you are chatting, you are laughing, you are having a great time. Then all of a sudden, someone slips off the floatie, and they are over their head and they can’ get back on. The floatie is now drifting away, someone tries to help them, and now you are both in trouble. It just happens so quickly,” says Stephanie Bakalar, Corporate Communications Manager at Lifesaving Society Ontario.

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Bringing a paddle on a floatie is not an effective way to stay safe either, as they are not designed to be steered. Canada sees almost 500 drownings each year, with most of these happening in open water like lakes, rivers, and ponds.

“The unfortunate thing here is almost all of these drownings are preventable,” Bakalar adds. “It is very very important to consider all the factors like water depth, wind, waves, and changes in weather. If you are going out into any type of open water on a floatie, canoe kayak, standup paddle board, you should be wearing a life jacket.”

For more on water safety as we head into the summer, watch the video above.