There was a happy ending for two fishermen in Northland. Their boat capsized when one of the men caught a fish and stood up to pull it into the boat. They spent seven hours in the sea, clinging to a chilly bin, until a customs patrol boat found them. They had life jackets in their boat but were not wearing them.

　　Water Safety New Zealand list four things to making boating safe: wearing life jackets, checking the weather, having at least two kinds of communication and having a reliable skipper. People can attend a course to learn to be a skipper.

　　Because New Zealand is an island country where most people live close to the sea, water sports are very important for us. Every child must learn to swim. About 1500 schools have a swimming pool but many of these are too small for older children. Also, many schools have closed their pools because of health requirements. It is expensive to maintain a clean pool. It is cheaper for a school to take children to a local public pool for swimming lessons for two weeks a year but this is not enough.

　　Only 20% of 10 year olds can swim 200m. 30% of 12 year olds cannot even swim 25m.

　　Vocabulary

　　drown – die in the water

　　toddler – small child who can walk

　　pre-schooler – a child under the age of five

　　capsized – turned over in the water

　　clinging – holding tightly

　　chilly bin – an ice box made of polystyrene – used for keeping food cold

　　customs patrol boats check boats coming into New Zealand waters

　　reliable – someone you can trust who knows what to do

　　skipper – captain, boss

　　health requirements – rules about testing the water to make sure it is clean

　　maintain – keep

　　Grammar

　　Note: it is expensive to maintain…; it is cheaper …to take. This is a useful structure with adjectives that express a quality e.g. difficult, hard, easy, simple, wonderful, exciting. Make your own sentences using this structure.

　　Questions

　　Do you think it is important to be able to swim?

　　What kinds of communication should a skipper have in a boat?