Tragedy that has to happen to be believable?

[Sigarms]

If any of you ever have to save soemone who is drowing and you do go in after them ..they will grab you out of instinct and may not stop even when told to do so...then you have to knock them out to save them and yourself...trust me.

You swim up upon a panicked person in the water, and they will not stop to try to take you down with them.

One of the techniques you learn as a rescue diver is being able to subdue the person into submission by almost drowning them first, so you can take control of the situation (at least that's what I was taught a long time ago, perhaps it's not politically correct anymore, but it worked).

I'd like to think some of these sad events were due to ignorance and not stupidity.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

You swim up upon a panicked person in the water, and they will not stop to try to take you down with them.

One of the techniques you learn as a rescue diver is being able to subdue the person into submission by almost drowning them first, so you can take control of the situation (at least that's what I was taught a long time ago, perhaps it's not politically correct anymore, but it worked).

I'd like to think some of these sad events were due to ignorance and not stupidity.

People of a different age learned to swim because being on or near the water was a part of life. That's true of a lot of things. Modernity has changed that. It's sad to say but I'm afraid of being very true, we're going to see more of these kinds of stories and not less in the future.

Kids today are more aware of a lot of things that we weren't. But they're not experiencing things and there's a ton of difference between knowing something because you've seen it in a book or on a screen and knowing it because you've experienced it.

 

[MossRoad]

You swim up upon a panicked person in the water, and they will not stop to try to take you down with them.

One of the techniques you learn as a rescue diver is being able to subdue the person into submission by almost drowning them first, so you can take control of the situation (at least that's what I was taught a long time ago, perhaps it's not politically correct anymore, but it worked).

I'd like to think some of these sad events were due to ignorance and not stupidity.

The first thing they teach you is how to get away.
Then they teach you to sit back out of reach and evaluate the situation to determine if you are capable of making the rescue. Little kids are easier than body builders! :laughing: If you don't think you can make the rescue, don't attempt it. If you have to overtake a victim, best to do it from behind. Swimming up from underneath, grabbing around them as you work your way up and finally throwing a cross chest carry on them with an arm lock. That's fun times, I tell ya! Trying to tow in a 240# body builder without using your arms and just your legs to swim for two people, one of whom is trying to kill you. It ain't something for the amateur to attempt.

Having been a lifeguard, and knowing my current physical condition, I can tell you I would no longer attempt rescues I made in my youth. Better to find something that floats and push it out in front of you to the victim, talk them into submission or wait for them to pass out and make a recovery. Better one drowning victim than two!

 

[charlz]

Moving water is down right deadly compared to flat water or even the ocean.
We were rafting down in the Smokies a couple weeks ago and I was talking to our guide, who grew up on the ocean. We both agreed that lakes and even the ocean will let you up while rivers will take you down and keep you there.

Kids today are more aware of a lot of things that we weren't. But they're not experiencing things and there's a ton of difference between knowing something because you've seen it in a book or on a screen and knowing it because you've experienced it.

When I was in Montana recently I took my kids down to the local river where I grew up swimming. At one of the local spots there was your typical gravel bar beach with a nice swimming hole. Some of the water comes down river, into the hole, then makes a 90 degree turn and goes cross-river across some very shallow gravel and dropped off into the main channel about 12 feet deep or so. You have to be really careful with these types of drop offs as the gravel will give way and out into the deep you go.

My kids 10 and 11 can both swim fairly well. At one point they were laying in the shallow water along the drop off and not really paying attention... but I was Sure enough after a bit my son gets floated maybe 3 feet past the edge of the drop off and he starts trying to swim back against the current. Try as he might he couldn't make any progress and you could see him getting tired. Just a few feet away his sister is oblivious, the shallow water rippling makes a lot of noise.

I wait until he is good and tired but before panic sets in, swim/wade over and instruct him to stop swimming and float. I alert my daughter as to what was going on and to float down as well. We go down river 200 feet or so and the river really widens and isn't even knee deep all the way across. We had a good talk about currents and not worrying about where you've been, but where you are going to go and how to use the current and river structure to your advantage.

I could have told them all day about how dangerous that edge could be... but just a few minutes of 'hands on' really drove the point home :thumbsup:

 

[2manyrocks]

Several things are sickening in this story. The story says the first man was pushed in the water as a joke, and then the other three went in after him. All drowned in front of kids aged 2-9.

It kind of reminds me of trench cave ins where the trench caves in on the first guy and then the second and third guys go in after him and it caves in on them, too.

 

[SPYDERLK]

The first thing they teach you is how to get away.

Im still having trouble imagining one person drowning 3 rescuers that could swim. :confused2:
larry

 

[ultrarunner]

My brother life guarded and for the last 15 years coaches a summer league swim team of 130 kids... all my nieces and nephew learned to float by age one and could swim the length of the pool at 4...

Nothing gets my brother more upset than seeing kids that can't swim with dollar store floats on their arms... these are the 99 cent variety that can let go without notice.

The parents are oblivious or just don't care... sad commentary.

 

[MossRoad]

Im still having trouble imagining one person drowning 3 rescuers that could swim. :confused2:
larry

3 untrained rescuers and I could believe it.

 

[Sigarms]

[The parents are oblivious or just don't care... sad commentary./QUOTE]

The read in the paper about the six youth who died in the river also mentioned that the youth were all afro american, and the article made points that swimming lessons for some reason are not the norm "to some extent" in the afro american community.

I can honestly see ignorance in both cases per this topic. What's common sense to some isn't for others.

 

[MossRoad]

[The parents are oblivious or just don't care... sad commentary./QUOTE]

The read in the paper about the six youth who died in the river also mentioned that the youth were all afro american, and the article made points that swimming lessons for some reason are not the norm "to some extent" in the afro american community.

I can honestly see ignorance in both cases per this topic. What's common sense to some isn't for others.

As a former lifeguard at public pools and a former certified water safety instructor I can tell you that when afforded the opportunity, all people of all ethnic backgrounds learn equally well how to swim. The problem is usually poverty and the ability to afford swimming lessons, membership to private pools, and/or no adults that know how to teach a child to swim. In areas where low cost public pools are available and the American Red Cross offers cheap swimming lessons, all people of all backgrounds win!