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Subject 37's Experience

Const. Stacy K. – Toronto Police Marine Unit

Stacy has been boating on a cottage lake with her family since she was 18 years old. They have a 16-foot bow rider which she drives quite often during the summer, in fact, she usually insists on being the driver. At the cottage they also have kayaks, stand-up paddleboards and Sea-Doo’s and she also does a lot of swimming on the water there as well.

Professionally, she has 15 years of experience as a marine officer with the Toronto Police Marine Unit working on commercial vessels, work vessels and fast-moving boats.

Watch Const. Stacy K. go through the experiences below.

Pre-Interview
Stand-Up Paddleboard
Fishing Boat
Cold Water Tank
Warm Water Tank
Post-Interview

Growing up at the cottage, lifejackets were always on the boat, they always knew where they were, but most of the time they didn’t have them on. She stated, “Unless we were in any type of weather, nobody was putting their lifejacket on.” She did normally wear one paddling though.

However, once she became a marine officer, with all the education and training that she went through, and all the things that she has seen, it changed her view on lifejacket wear immediately. “Just the stuff that we see on Lake Ontario, though it is a bigger body of water with rough conditions and cold water, right away there’s no way you don’t have your lifejacket on.” She continues, “And I reiterate that to my family and friends constantly, so much so that they probably get annoyed with me.”

“In real life, wearing a lifejacket, would give you a sense of security, as it would return you up to the boat level.”

Stacy found the Virtual Reality (VR) experiences to be quite lifelike. She said, “It’s hard to balance yourself, and so, when you tip, you get that spike in your heart rate as you’re going in.” She also found “You go over and instantly you're far away from your boat, looking up at it drifting away from you, and you are just down in the water, and you get a sense of panic. In real life, wearing a lifejacket, would give you a sense of security, as it would return you up to the boat level.”

“It was quite shocking, and not once, but twice.”

As a marine officer, Stacy has experience with cold water but was caught off guard by her dunk tank experiences. “It was quite shocking, and not once, but twice. First by going in unexpectedly and then again by the temperature of the water. But that's what's going to happen if you fall overboard. You have that initial shock of falling and then again at the cold. I've experienced cold water plunges, so, I knew it was going to be cold, but a plunge is controlled, falling in unexpectedly, it made it seem a lot colder than it really was.”

Even though she knew she was in a tank, she still felt she was going deeper down than she thought she would. “In a real fall, you're going to go down even further away from the surface of the water, and that's when you can panic and can gasp and begin to hyperventilate. Hyperventilated breathing, that's the part that you need to get under control really fast, because as soon as you start ingesting the water, then you're not going to be able to survive. If you had a lifejacket on, you're going to resurface a lot faster, and you will be above the water level, and you'll be able to breathe in the air. And you may panic, but at least you're going to be afloat, and someone has time to reach and grab you and rescue you.”

“Because as soon as you start ingesting the water, then you're not going to be able to survive. If you had a lifejacket on, you're going to resurface a lot faster, and you will be above the water level, and you'll be able to breathe in the air. And you may panic, but at least you're going to be afloat, and someone has time to reach and grab you and rescue you.”