HARTWELL — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is urging those who plan to enjoy recreation on area lakes to use caution throughout their trip.
Scott Lusk, park ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Savannah District, Hartwell Lake Project, begins with a standard caution: either leave the alcohol at home or designate a sober driver on land and on the water.
"Eighty percent of boating accidents involve alcohol, so that tells you something right there," Lusk said. "Leave the alcohol at home."
Another caution for people or all ages is to wear a lifejacket anytime you're in a vessel.
"Having a lifejacket on a boat is usually not good enough in most cases," Lusk says. "Wear it, because you never know when you're going to be knocked unconscious. Of course there's no reason not to wear it. You used to hear the complaints — the lifejacket's bulky, it's hot, it's cumbersome. They have these lifejackets now, Type 5 hybrids, that are very lightweight, they're inflatable. You can inflate them manually if you're conscious, and if you're unconscious they'll inflate for you."
Lusk cautions against any form of water or swimming challenges, especially by youth.
"For a lot of youngsters that want to challenge each other — 'I'll race you to that buoy' or 'I'll race you to that island', I say don't do it because you just don't realize how far that distance is," Lusk says. "Even the strongest swimmers will get half way or two-thirds of the way and they're out of breath and they're in trouble."
Lusk stresses it take only about 40 seconds on average for an adult to drown and only 20 seconds for a child to drown.
"Having said this, we've had over 300 drownings on the lake," Lusk says. "Many more fatalities than that, but as far as recreational drownings a little over 300."
In 2015, there were four recreational drownings on Hartwell Lake.
Additionally, Lusk echoes Georgia Department of Natural Resources officials reminding people to follow the rules of the water, especially the 100-foot rule.
"You get a lot of jetskiers that like to jump other people's wake, and that's very dangerous not only to them, but to others," Lusk says. "You get a lot of jetskiers that like to try to get close to the beaches. Wherever the people are is where they want to go because a lot of them want to be seen."
Like state officers, Corps rangers also remind people to have enough lifejackets for everyone on board, as well as the required fire extinguisher.
"Boating in general, please be aware of your 'no wake' zones, stay away from the beaches, slow down to idle speed when you're going under the bridges or getting near someone's dock or another boat that's still in the water or swimmers," Lusk says. "Just use common sense, be courteous and know the rules of the road."
Those who are inexperienced swimmers also should exercise caution in and around water.
"If you're in one of our designated beaches, they have nice, flat, sandy bottoms and they are roped off, buoyed off, and you have your depth gauges so you know where the maximum depth is," Lusk says. "Now, anywhere else on the lake you are subject to dropoffs. You can be walking along in two to three feet of water and then the next thing you know you're over your head with one step, because there are ditches, underground gullies, holes."
Lusk says the lake covers old roadbeds that often were lined with ditches.
"That's where people get into trouble," Lusk says. "They're just not anticipating what that next step is, so if you're not a good swimmer or can't swim at all and you're not in a designated swimming area, I'd recommend highly wear that lifejacket."
