NEW WATER LIFESAVING

University of Illinois lifeguard, Barbara Johnson, demonstrates the new "SAFETY BALL BUOY" for beach and pool safety. Miss Johnson is a senior majoring in psychology and is from Thorntoit, Illinois. Photo by E. C. Beamer

Instructors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign train their lifesaving and water safety students in the use of a relatively new rescue device called the safety ball buoy.

"It is a new concept that may eventually replace the ring buoy", said Thomas F. Krizan, supervisor of aquatics at the U. of I.

The ring buoy currently is accepted by the American Red Cross and the public as a symbol of safety, and by the U.S. Coast Guard as an approved life-saving device.

But, Krizan said, the ring buoy has a major drawback—the risk of hitting a drowning person in the head with two and a half pounds or more of solid cork or hard plastic. "It's like being slugged with a baseball bat, and could be just as serious," he said. One of the main differences is in the weight of the two devices. The safety ball buoy, made of plastic foam, weighs less than two pounds and is held in a nylon net with an attached line.

Values of the safety ball buoy are:

1.) Simple and fast to throw because of the full circular swing.

2.) Very buoyant and offers full support of an adult victim.

3.) Extremely easy to see by a victim at water or eye level because of its round shape (compared to the near flat ring buoy).

4.) The victim has tremendous grasping area in the net, ball, knots and line and is virtually impossible to miss if within reach.

5.) All line (net and throw line) is made of a buoyant, synthetic material.

6.) All materials, ball, net and throw line shall meet U.S. Coast Guard and Yacht Safety Bureau standards for buoyancy, breaking strength, workmanship and resistance to weather, petroleum products, salt, damage, etc.

7.) Simple to store (tangle free) on a wall, rail or post because of modern materials and a unique hanger.

8.) Can be used in a pool, on the beach or from a pier and extremely effective on boats—particularly small craft pulling water skiers and beach patrol boats.

9.) Can be used in team swimming rescues, similar to the line attached torpedo buoy, because of a unique attachment.

The idea for the safety ball buoy came from a Canadian graduate student who was a member of the Royal Lifesaving Society of Canada. The RLSC advocates use of the safety device and refers to it in its lifesaving manual.

There usually is difficulty in acquiring accuracy and distance when pitching a ring buoy. With practice, 35 feet is average. When power is emphasized the timing is thrown off and the buoy usually flies high and falls short or wide of its target. With little or no practice, however, the safety ball buoy can be thrown a distance of 60 feet with extreme accuracy. With some practice and skill, 75 feet may be exceeded.

Most ring buoys need constant maintenance—the canvas will rot and the cork will break. The plastic foam ball used for the safety ball buoy needs almost no maintenance, since it is covered with an all-weather vinyl coating, an almost indestructible material.

Illinois Parks 82 May/ June 1970