My friend broke her leg the first time she ever even attempted to surf, got out on the board in shall water fell off and her ankle got stuck in the sand in some way and it moved and broke her foot or lower part of her leg. I can't remember the specifics of it but it would be hard to try it again after knowing that that had happened. An unfortunate part of most sports.
It's weird to me to not teach kids how to swim and then allow kids to play at lakes or the ocean or even go out on boats. One kid or even adult gets in trouble and another who doesn't know how to swim tries to help and suddenly you have 2 deaths. Swimming should be taught to kids by parents in a similar way to riding a bike or brushing your teeth. Swimming means you can be safer in the water, never totally safe but the risk of dying is much lower.
