A couple of summers ago, I had a swimming scare in Black Lake, Michigan, after jumping off a boat to swim with colleagues. I was accustomed to jumping off boats into the water back home in Florida, but didn’t consider that Michigan summer water is much colder than Florida summer water, that I was less buoyant in fresh water than in salt water, or that in Florida, I always wore a life jacket.
I quickly started to struggle. I had trouble getting air in between each of the waves and the wind was moving the boat farther and farther away from me. As I struggled to keep my head above water, Amanda Ballantyne of the Main Street Alliance, saw from the boat that I was struggling. Thankfully, as a trained lifeguard, she knew better when I told her I was ok. She swam a life jacket to me and helped me get back to the boat.
