A two-year-old toddler drowned in a river in Gisborne yesterday. He is the 13th pre-schooler to drown this year. A number of fishermen drowned at the end of October. Some were fishing from boats or diving for fish while three men were net fishing from the beach. In total, 102 people have drowned so far this year compared to 72 at this time last year.
There was a happy ending for two fishermen in Northland. Their boat capsized when one of the men caught a fish and stood up to pull it into the boat. They spent seven hours in the sea, clinging to a chilly bin, until a customs patrol boat found them. They had life jackets in their boat but were not wearing them.
Water Safety New Zealand list four things to making boating safe: wearing life jackets, checking the weather, having at least two kinds of communication and having a reliable skipper. People can attend a course to learn to be a skipper.
Because New Zealand is an island country where most people live close to the sea, water sports are very important for us. Every child must learn to swim. About 1500 schools have a swimming pool but many of these are too small for older children. Also, many schools have closed their pools because of health requirements. It is expensive to maintain a clean pool. It is cheaper for a school to take children to a local public pool for swimming lessons for two weeks a year but this is not enough.
Only 20% of 10 year olds can swim 200m. 30% of 12 year olds cannot even swim 25m.
Vocabulary
drown – die in the water
toddler – small child who can walk
pre-schooler – a child under the age of five
capsized – turned over in the water
clinging – holding tightly
chilly bin – an ice box made of polystyrene – used for keeping food cold
customs patrol boats check boats coming into New Zealand waters
reliable – someone you can trust who knows what to do
skipper – captain, boss
health requirements – rules about testing the water to make sure it is clean
maintain – keep
Grammar
Note: it is expensive to maintain…; it is cheaper …to take. This is a useful structure with adjectives that express a quality e.g. difficult, hard, easy, simple, wonderful, exciting. Make your own sentences using this structure.
Questions
Do you think it is important to be able to swim?
What kinds of communication should a skipper have in a boat?