If you swim or paddle on the Upper Delaware River, wear a life preserver

Here’s a bet I hope I’ll lose:

At least one person will drown in the Upper Delaware River this summer — a person who isn’t wearing a life preserver.

I make this sad prediction because the odds say a death on the Upper Delaware is likely. Since 1980, 78 people have drowned on the river that stretches some 73 miles from near Port Jervis in Orange County through Sullivan and on up to Hancock in Delaware County. That’s nearly two people dying per summer.

Not one of those drowning victims was wearing a life preserver, also called a life jacket.

In fact, nearly 85% of those who drowned nationally in 2022 weren’t wearing a life preserver, according to the US Coast Guard.

Yet despite countless factual warnings like this – and signs up and down the Upper Delaware – the odds also say many of you won’t be wearing a life jacket when you jump in, wade in or paddle the Delaware in a canoe, kayak or rowboat. That means at least one of you – or someone you know who gets out on the Delaware this summer - is likely to die.

I know you may think wearing a life jacket is a drag — especially if you’re feeling carefree after being cooped up all week at your job, in school or even at home. But please, just take a few seconds to think of how little effort it takes to slip on the jacket — just like you would slip on a seat belt — as opposed to the anguished, life-crushing pain a drowning would cause your mom, dad, brother, sister, children, spouse or friends. All you have to do to make sure you and your loved ones avoid that devastating pain is slip on that life preserver.

And please don’t be fooled by the seeming calm of the water that rushes, snakes and flows alongside the mountains, villages and forests of Route 97, which was named USA TODAY's Best Scenic Autumn Drive in the Northeast — and second best in the whole country — in the 2015 Readers’ Choice contest.

That water may seem as smooth as proverbial glass, but it’s really “deceptive and dangerous,” according to the National Park Service, with “deceptively fast currents.”

“The current is often stronger than it appears, and conditions are constantly changing,” according to the NPS. “New obstacles can emerge after high water events or be invisible from the surface. Moving water can be very dangerous and can still be quite cold, even on a warm day, leading to shock.”

You may also think you’re a strong swimmer, but the rushing currents of the river — particularly right after a calm, smooth stretch — can be a force even the most experienced swimmers can’t overcome. Plus, the physical panic you feel when that churning water or an underwater boulder takes you by surprise only adds to your distress and can make you feel helpless.

I’ve been swimming laps in a pool or lake almost every day for some 30 years. But when I’ve encountered an unexpected obstacle like an approaching storm that brought choppy lake water, I’ve felt the physical fear grab hold of me. My heart beat faster; my legs kicked harder and I actually gasped for breath. Once, when I was swimming in shallow (maybe three or four feet deep) lake water, I felt my leg kick what I first thought was huge rock. But when I looked down into the water, I saw that “rock” swimming. Turned out it was big turtle (I think the snapping kind).

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I reflexively began furiously kicking and stroking in the water as my adrenalin kicked in. And I realized I was scared — of a turtle that wanted no part of me.

Imagine how overwhelming that fear would be if you really lost control in the rushing, cold currents of the Upper Delaware and you were headed for a huge rock.

Please help me lose my bet that at least one person will drown in the Upper Delaware this summer.

Please wear a life preserver.

Steve Israel, a longtime editor and columnist at the Times Herald-Record in Orange County, New York, can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Upper Delaware River recreation: Wear a life preserver