by Shannon Tompkins.  While reading this story you might say:  Chris, you know I wear my life jacket. But do you coach safety to your friends and neighbors just getting into the paddle sports?

For the complete Shannon Tompkins Water Safety Story, click the link below:

http://www.chron.com/sports/outdoors/article/Memorial-Day-weekend-on-Texas-waters-safer-than-11193973.php

The last paragraph:    “Paddlers increasing”

On the coast, wardens were involved in a successful search-and-rescue involving a paddler who was on a stand-up paddle board, got too far from shore and did not have the strength to paddle to safety.

Those Memorial Day weekend events reflect the increasing numbers of incidents - search-and-rescue, accidents, fatalities - involving paddle craft.

Over the last decade, Texas has seen an explosion in the number of kayaks, canoes and paddle boards on the state's lakes, rivers and bays, with some even venturing into the near-shore Gulf. TPWD's Jones said a conservative estimate places the number of paddle craft in Texas at 272,000; it is impossible to get a firm number since the state does not require paddle craft to be registered.

With that increase has come a concerning rise in accidents, injuries and fatalities involving paddle craft as well as an increase in search-and-rescues involving the paddle-powered boats. Last year, 31 percent of boating fatalities in Texas involved paddle craft; in 2015, it was 40 percent.

But there were no fatal incidents involving paddle craft or any other boats in Texas this Memorial Day weekend. And that's something to memorialize.