This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
04/25/2018 08:30 AMBefore the next warm day tempts you to head out on a boat, take a swim, or otherwise experience the water, water safety and survival expert Ben Rayner wants to arm you with information that can prevent drowning.
Ben will give a public water safety talk on Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m. at Willoughby Wallace Library in Stony Creek. The information Ben will share is urgently important this time of year, when entering Long Island Sound’s winter-chilled waters can trigger drowning in less than a minute, but it’s equally important to be armed with this knowledge any time of year, when lakes, swimming pools, and other watery situations can quickly pose a drowning threat.
A Guilford native now based in Groton, Ben is a water safety expert, survival instructor, and author. He’s also the founder and executive director of the non-profit Water Emergency Training (WET), Inc. Ben incorporated WET in 2017 to translate his years of expertise and experience into the sole mission of preventing drownings.
“Every person we reach is a potential life saved,” says Ben, who authored the book, Water Safety: From Your Backyard Pool to the Open Ocean, How to Avoid and Survive Water Emergencies.
On May 10, “I’ll be presenting a water safety talk that covers how to stay safe in and around the water. I want to provide simple, hands-on information and skills to avoid a tragedy,” says Ben. “The thrust behind it is just trying to make people more knowledgeable.”
All proceeds from purchases of his book (offered at $20) and any donations made to WET at wateremergencytraining.org are plowed back into the non-profit to help Ben reach more people by offering free talks, demonstrations, and other informational sessions.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is one of the leading causes of death for children 14 and under as well as in males in their teens and 20s. Even more tragic, says Ben, “most drownings in the U.S. are avoidable, and WET is dedicated to preventing these tragedies.”
From “single moms who may be renting a house with a pool, to open ocean navigators,” Ben tailors his talks to the groups he meets. On May 10, with boating season upon us, he wants to be sure to discuss cold water dangers as well as ways to prevent drowning in other scenarios.
“Spring sees a spike in drownings. People go to the water on a nice day, and fall into that cold water,” says Ben, adding even experienced boaters are at risk. “Some of the people who most need to know this are people who have training, but still don’t understand the whole phenomenon of cold water shock. It’s not rocket science, but there is science to it.”
Cold water shock comes into play in water at 60 degrees or less, with the likelihood of rapid drowning increased by breathing trouble due to involuntarily gasping in response to the shock of the cold. On average, according to U.S. Geological Survey records, Long Island Sound’s average temperature in April is 44 degrees, climbing to about 51 degrees in May before hitting the low 60s in June.
In summertime, Ben says the threat centers on recreational and other settings where children interact with water and even a brief moment of inattention by supervising adults may lead to drowning. Counter to expectations, because kids can panic quickly in a water emergency, there’s little yelling or splashing to alert an adult to the situation.
There are many other ways children can be put at risk of drowning. When it comes to home pool or lakeside safety, WET asks parents and family members to evaluate some scenarios. Is your 13 year-old babysitter physically able to pull a child, especially a panicked or incapacitated child, from your pool or hot tub? Can your 71 year-old mother-in-law, charged with watching a child, realistically dive to the bottom of the deep end and remove a child from the water? Are you yourself, able to perform these tasks?
Ben has been asked to speak to boating safety classes, crews, and other boating groups, as well. In many cases, just going over the basics will make a difference, he says.
“When it comes to boating, if there’s a chance you’re going to be out of sight of land, you want to practice with your safety equipment. You don’t want to be figuring it out when the boat’s on fire, because it’s a lot more difficult than you think,” says Ben.
For recreational boaters, Ben says just getting people thinking about responding to scenarios can save a life.
“Just asking simple questions, like does your spouse or does your 12-year-old know how to start the boat, or how to call the Coast Guard? Because what good is all that you can do, if you fall overboard? So a lot of it is getting people to ask those questions.”
As executive director of WET, Ben brings decades of water experience, among them, seven years as a survival instructor at Survival Systems USA in Groton.
He’s also tested safety industry equipment in real-world scenarios, including spending 24 hours on a life raft in open water.
Ben’s numerous technical and medical certifications include those in water safety, boating safety, safety diving, sea survival, land survival and underwater egress. Ben trained thousands of first responders and military members before founding WET last year.
“I was a survival instructor [training] on surviving helicopter and plane crashes in the water,” says Ben. “I’ve worked with law enforcement and the military and medical personnel. It was a real honor to work for those folks, and to be able bring that to public,” says Ben.
A former Shore Publishing reporter who once covered Branford and North Branford for The Sound, Ben has been recognized by the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists for his investigative reporting, Ben is also well-regarded safety industry writer and researcher who has authored numerous water safety articles for national publications.
As part of the mission of WET, Ben says, “I’ll speak in front of anybody—a condo association, marinas, libraries ...I don’t care if it’s one or 100 people, [and] I want to get the program in schools. I want water safety to be as ubiquitous as fire safety.”
The public is invited to attend Ben Rayner’s water safety talk at Willoughby Wallace Library Fri. May 10 at 7 p.m. (no registration needed). The library is located at 146 Thimble Islands Road in Stony Creek, Branford. For more information, visit www.wwml.org.