With the May long weekend upon us, the Lifesaving Society, Manitoba Branch, is urging boaters to be safe. Acting CEO Kevin Tordiffe says he can't emphasize this message strongly enough because Manitoba has a lousy record when it comes to boating fatalities.

"When we look at the last few years of drowning reports, which are produced by the Lifesaving Society, which looks at drowning trends, we find that we (in Manitoba) actually have the highest rates in Canada of boating fatalities and alcohol-contributing boating fatalities."

Tordiffe adds in over 90 per cent of boating fatalities, the victims were not wearing life jackets.

"The laws of the land say that you have to have a life jacket of an appropriate size for everybody on the boat. But the advice we would give everybody is to wear that life jacket. A life jacket is the closest thing to a seatbelt we have in a boating environment. We all know why we need to be wearing a seatbelt in a car and I think there are even more reasons why we should be wearing a life jacket in a boat."

Tordiffe reminds people the water in Manitoba lakes is still quite cold and they need to be extra cautious this weekend.

"A lot of the waters in Manitoba stay at a hypothermic level year round and, certainly, in the early parts of the season, it's going to be a little bit worse than it is in the middle of July. It doesn't take much if you end up in the water, you're not going to have much time where your body is going to have the physical strength and dexterity, or ability to move, to help get you out of the water so that could be a very dangerous situation."