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Subject 44's Experience

Jenna P. – Paddler

When she was younger, Jenna spent about 9 months doing boat tours on Lake Minnewanka in Banff, AB. She would drive the 42-foot vessels full of passengers, 3 times a day, to the end of the lake and back.

She currently lives on the shores of Lake Simcoe, ON, and in the summers, enjoys going out kayaking and paddleboarding. She says previously when she’s been out on a kayak or SUP, she definitely has always had a lifejacket with her but hasn’t always worn it. Her wear habits recently changed though when she became a mom. “I think I've become a little bit more wary in my age and now, being a mom, I think it's cool to wear lifejackets.”

Jenna says becoming a mom has only strengthened her commitment to lifejacket wear. “Lifejackets can keep you afloat and keep your head above the water so you can continue to breathe. And they can stop you from drowning. I know now when just bathing my daughter in a couple of inches of water that I can't leave her because drowning can happen so easily and so quickly.”

She adds, “I've seen my daughter in the water, and I just understand more now how water is dangerous and how easy it is to drown. I think through that appreciation of seeing the water through her eyes, it's important to look after myself and wear my lifejacket, because I'm not invincible - even though I can swim.”

Watch Jenna P. go through the experiences below.

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

Jenna has had a couple of accidental falls off her paddeboard over the years. She recalls one instance back in 2021, where she unexpectedly went in the water due to balance issues. She was trying to do some yoga, doing balancing headstands on the paddleboard and fell off. She was not wearing her lifejacket at the time.

When she fell into the water, she went fully under and hit her side on the paddleboard. Thankfully, she wasn’t badly injured, and the water wasn’t too cold, so she was able to get back up quickly. She acknowledges, “I wasn’t wearing my lifejacket. I could have drowned had I hurt myself more or not been able to swim or had there been any other unforeseen circumstances.”

“I've seen my daughter in the water, and I just understand more now how water is dangerous and how easy it is to drown.”

After going through the Virtual Reality (VR) experiences, Jenna said she was really caught off guard and surprised by the unexpected falls. “When I fell, I screamed and I forgot that I was actually attached, so I felt unsafe. And then somebody told me I could touch the ground, but I forgot there was ground underneath me. I really felt like it was real for a couple of seconds.”

“I wasn't able to breathe deeply until I reached the ladder and could hold on to something.”

With the dunk tanks she was anticipating falling in, so she felt a little anxious. And when she went in, she says she felt shocked and disoriented and a little bit of panic. “I didn't take any water in. I definitely gasped and I wanted to come up and take a big breath of air, because I feel like it kind of took my breath away when I went underwater. My breath was labored. It was shorter. I was taking chest breaths. I wasn't able to breathe deeply until I reached the ladder and could hold on to something.”

Jenna says, “Having these experiences definitely reinforces for me to always wear my lifejacket, especially in cold water, because you do kind of lose your sense of where you are, and it really does affect your breath. Warm water is one thing, but cold water really affects the way you react once you hit the water, in how you breathe, how you think, where you are in space. So, I think it's very important to always wear your life jacket.”