Heather’s preferred way of keeping active is going kayaking, and as an avid kayaker, she always wears her lifejacket.
“I don't ever go, ‘No, I'm not going to need it’, because you never know what's going to happen. It could be a change in the wind. It could be a boat going by. It could be a hiccup, a sneeze. You never know if you're going to capsize. So just wear your lifejacket.”
Heather recalls a time when she was accidentally knocked out of her kayak in Sauble Beach, Ontario. “My stepson t-boned me with his kayak and it flung me over the side. Luckily, I was by the docks, so I was able to get myself back up and out.”
She was shocked when she fell in, but it was a quick recovery as she was wearing her lifejacket and knew where she was and was aware of her surroundings – something she always ensures before she goes out on the water.
“Just that sudden change in balance, like you're just going over and you're not ready, you're not prepared, you're not stable.”
Heather found the Virtual Reality (VR) experiences to be very realistic. She likened the feeling between the VR and being in her kayak and capsizing as very similar. “Just that sudden change in balance, like you're just going over and you're not ready, you're not prepared, you're not stable. It's just that feeling of slight panic when it's just that dry fall.”
With the dunk tanks, Heather’s initial reaction was shock, “Hitting that cold was just shocking!” She thought her breathing was calm before she fell in, but as soon as she was dropped from the platform, “It was like I was gasping for air before I hit the water, and then as soon as that water hit, I felt that instant surge of water into my nasal cavity and I’m just gasping for more air.”
“It was like I was gasping for air before I hit the water, and then as soon as that water hit, I felt that instant surge of water into my nasal cavity and I’m just gasping for more air.”
She also felt some disorientation when hitting the water and said even though she knew there were people around her, it was almost like for a second, she wasn’t in a tank.
“For a split second I was thinking that I was not safe. I've been kayaking for a few years, and even though I've got a few years under my belt, it is still a shock and you're still unclear of what's going to happen. You’re still wanting to take that breath under the water. And you think, I'm going to choke and go down further, because then you panic and you're not able to think straight thoughts.”
After going through the experiences, Heather feels that if she was out in her kayak and capsized without a lifejacket on, she would not be okay.