[nabs-l] canes and water park rides

[Elizabeth Mohnke]

Hello Cindy,

Thank you for bringing up a topic to get us all thinking about summer. It is 
definitely appreciated when April has fooled us into thinking that it is 
somehow still winter.

I think it might just depend on the set up of the ride. In some cases, you 
may wish to leave the cane behind, while on other rides you may wish to have 
it with you. For example, if you are just lounging around on an inner tube 
in the lazy river, you may wish to leave your cane off to the side while 
enjoying this relaxing ride.

However, in terns of the more traditional water slide where you just lay 
down and slide down the ride, here is what I would do. I would use a 
Telescopic cane with some kind of loop on the top of the cane. When it came 
to my turn for the ride, I would Telescopic the cane and place the loop 
around one of my wrists or forearms.

I would then place the cane up against my chest with the top of the cane at 
my belly button and the tip of the cane pointed at my chin. I suppose you 
could do it the other way around, but I personally would feel more 
comfortable doing it this way to ensure that the cane does not uncollapse 
during the ride. I would then criss cross my arms over the cane across my 
chest to keep the cane in place while going down the ride.

I know others have suggested using a belt loop to keep the cane at your side 
while going down the ride, but I am honestly not quite sure how safe this 
would be. I would be concerned about the cane getting stuck on the side of 
the ride or creating a drag slowing down how fast you go through the ride.

When I went to the water park as a kid, they made everyone criss cross their 
arms over their chest as well as cross their legs when going down the more 
traditional water slides. Therefore, this would just seem to be the most 
logical thing to do with a cane when going down these types of water slides. 
Granted, I have never used a cane at a water park, but if I did, this is 
most likely what I would do.

Anyway, I hope this helps, and I hope you enjoy your time at the water park!

Elizabeth