That’s right, cell phones don’t work when they are wet.  I’ve heard the trick about putting them in a bag of rice to dry them out, so if you leave your phone outside during a rain storm or it tips out of your pocket into a puddle, you can bring it back to life in a day.  That’s great, but what if you need to call for help?  What if your phone gets wet because you were washed downstream, your boat is going down, you are hiking in a remote area or your canoe tipped and you broke your leg when you flipped?  (‘Remote’ means more than 100 yards from the parking lot in most places).  

There is a great new video on YouTube ‘Heroes Wear Lifejackets’.  It is a brilliant example of using social media to spread safety messages and to influence the target audience.  Showing Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers, one of the most elite branches of our forces, in action really gets the point across to teenage boys and men.  Please watch the video and then share it, it is well worth it.

I put the link out to my network and had a great response back from a professional in the Search and Rescue field reminding me that it’s not just lifejackets, it’s being able to call for help.  He recommends taking Marine VHF Radio whenever water and adventure mix - meaning when you are hiking, boating, water skiing, jet skiing, or just finding a pristine lake to swim in off the beaten track.  They are under $100, you can find them at Amazon or WestMarine.  Thanks for the lifesaving reminder Mark, I learned something new as well.

Yes, I love my smart phone too.  It can remind me how to do first aid or CPR, where the nearest swimming pool is and how to get there, but if it gets wet, it’s dead, and maybe, so are you.