So tragic. When you hear "hanging onto a swimming platform on a boat," carbon monoxide from the exhaust is often the culprit.
This is really sad news. The swimming platform at the back of the boat is the usual spot for a ladder to get back in a boat. If a ladder isn't there, it can be really difficult to pull yourself out of the water without help. We do a lot of skiing in Northern Michigan and it can be difficult later in the day, even with a vest on, to get back in the boat. Since she wasn't wearing a vest it's doubtful that she was skiing since just about everyone skis with a vest on. In Michigan, it's the law to wear a vest when skiing and it probably is in Ohio also. Just hanging out in the sun, swimming around, and doing all of that can get tiring after a long day on the water. Another story I read about this tragedy stated that this young woman had a goal to go to medical school at Case Western Reserve. She was just too young to die.
Unfortunately some underestimate the power of a body of water. Nobody would expect her to have any trouble swimming because she was a strong athlete but water can be so unpredictable. I have always been very cautious due to this traumatic time when I was just 4 years old and I was playing in the water at the beach(running away and running after the waves) when I tripped and fell in the water and the power of the tide sucked me under the waves and I started screaming “mommy! Mommy! Help me!” And my mom came running down and grabbed my arm and pulled me out before the ocean could take me under. It happened so fast everyone at the beach didn’t even notice, not even a life guard. When I went to Big Bear lake, we all wore vests on the pontoon even though we weren’t jumping in the water. There’s no life guards out there, anything could happen and someone can suddenly get taken under and drown. Anyway, I hope her family finds peace someday but geez this is tragic.
I've got the feeling that sometimes it can happen that a strong athlete can easily make the mistake of being overconfident just because of his/her athletic fitness. Also, there are lakes that are unexpectedly more dangerous than the sea. It's not the first time someone ends drawning in a lake that you would have bet having no problem in swimming out of anywhere. You'll probably all remember how Swiss International Florijana Ismaili had died in summer 2019 in the waters of Lake Como, in Italy.
I haven't seen any details on this accident. The story linked above doesn't have any except that she was hanging on the swimming platform at back of the boat. Have I missed other details? Did she know how to swim? One assumes so. Were there other people in the boat? One assumes so. Very unusual and tragic.
They’re probably still investigating and don’t know all of the details. I don’t want to speculate on what happened but alcohol also could have been a factor. I grew up being on the water a lot, boating, skiing, etc, and when we were in high school and college, drinking beer while being out on the water on a long weekend day and in the heat, was a given. The alcohol definitely affected swimming abilities negatively while also giving me courage to do things I might not normally do. Things like backflips off of rocks, skiing faster than normal, trying to swim longer distances than usual, and all of that. I’m not implying that alcohol was a factor in this instance but, given my experiences and background, it would not surprise me if it was. I have stressed to my kids to be safe on the water and make good choices but I am not naive enough to believe that they haven’t also imbibed when out on the water on a long and hot day. I just hope that they be as safe as possible.
As a father of a girl just heading off to college in the fall this hits me very hard. Such a tragic situation.
It looks like carbon monoxide was the culprit. In a follow-up to this tragedy, the coroner released a statement. Here's an article about that: https://www.cleveland.com/metro/202...nt-athlete-from-strongsville-report-says.html As I said earlier, I grew up being on the water a lot and still get out on the water to ski and play. One of the rules that my parents instilled in me is to not hang out at the back of the boat when it's idling. Whenever we stopped to get in the water, change skiers, or whatever, whoever was driving killed the engine. I've also instilled this in my kids. This is a tragedy but if any good comes out of it it would be to serve as a teaching point to prevent other similar accidents. Being on boats is a lot of fun and my memories of being on the water in Northern Michigan in my youth are some of my favorite memories. While it is a lot of fun, those that don't spend a lot of time on boats for recreation may not know how dangerous it can be.