Do you know how to swim?

[brin]

Moss...I have had that happen on land when I was running and all of a sudden my legs cramped and down I went...calves went right up to my thighs...happened in the first few days of Army basic training....what pain that is ...I have no clue how you managed to hold on in water to the swimmer with all that pain and keep yourself above water...Wow ! I think many lives would be saved every year if folks would just realize their limitations and make wise choices.



Bob

 

[powerpace]

Didn't swim well before 1968. Joined the Marine Corps. In basic everyone is required to jump into deep end of the pool (swimmer or not) and retrieve object placed on the bottom. If you don't swim the instructor may or may not throw you a line depending on the near drowning factor and panic. Swim or no the recruit will retrieve the object from the bottom.
Came close to ending it all while Rafting on the Rogue River in 1984. Broke an oar on the "Picket Fence" and flipped over. Came up after hitting several rocks losing my glasses, gash in he back and broken finger. Did have my lifejacket on but each year several people wearing lifejackets die on the Rogue. Wrapped the finger and got off the water two days later.

 

[MossRoad]

Moss...I have had that happen on land when I was running and all of a sudden my legs cramped and down I went...calves went right up to my thighs...happened in the first few days of Army basic training....what pain that is ...I have no clue how you managed to hold on in water to the swimmer with all that pain and keep yourself above water...Wow ! I think many lives would be saved every year if folks would just realize their limitations and make wise choices.



Bob

As I mentioned, I was 18 or 19 and weighed probably 135 soaking wet. I was strong as an ox. I never panicked. I knew I could drop the kid and save myself if worse came to worse. Yikes! Glad I didn't have to make that decision. Don't know how I could live with that. But they teach you to save yourself first. No sense in having two victims. Man, that would suck.

 

[mjarrels]

Use to hate Navy abandon ship drills. All hands topside and give long/lat location and closes land 1200 miles away!

mark

 

[MossRoad]

Use to hate Navy abandon ship drills. All hands topside and give long/lat location and closes land 1200 miles away!

mark

Yeah. I can imagine. I've got a friend who has a picture of his dad standing on the deck of a submarine somewhere out in the north atlantic all by himself.... the water looked cold and dark.... YIKES!!!

 

[ray66v]

On a good day, my entire childhood of learn to swim classes, has yielded me the ability to cover a distance of about 20-30 feet. If I have not made it to safety at that point, I'm not going to survive. So, as far as I am concerned, I don't swim.

I don't float. But, I have discovered that if I stay off of, and out of the water, I don't need to. Which is fine with me.

Interesting to see I am not the only one who can't swim, it sure seems that way sometimes.

I did go scuba diving in the Caribbean ocean once, just to be able to cross it off my bucket list. My wife who did not want to go, was sure I was going to drown. She was really surprised they would let me go, since she knew I could not pass the swimming test. I said, it was no problem. There was no test. They just ask me if I could swim, and I said "Yeeep!!!". Apparently, my sarcasm was lost on them, and they said, "Okay, your good to go". I really wasn't worried, I knew I would have a whole tank of air to breathe, before there would be any trouble.

 

[Danno1]

Moss- I agree with all you said about Reach, row, throw and Go maybe not being an option at all depending on the situation....I see news stories every year about men younger than you or me that drown trying to save someone who has fallen in one of several of our huge reservoirs around here....sad, most often it is a middle age father trying to swim out and save a friend or a child...Know your physical limitations...it takes a lot of lung capacity to swim out . tussle with a panic stricken swimmer and then swim back for 2...like you said...When I was younger and a life guard it was hard enough but now...I would have to really be sure of the outcome based on the situation. It's all about decisions....life or death.

I was in a safety class once and we were reviewing that plane crash on the Potomac (forget the flight #) that happened in cold weather. A civilian went out and rescued a woman who couldn't hold onto the rope dangling from the chopper. There was ice in the water and he was in street clothes.

Anyway, we were told about the 50-50-50 rule. If the ROUND TRIP is 50 yards, and the water temp is 50`, you have a 50% chance of making it back to shore alive. Colder, longer, being out of shape, etc, of course, decrease those chances.


How to Avoid Hypothermia While Sea Kayaking



.

 

[dodge man]

I also "saved" a little girl in a pool once. I say "saved" since all I did was let her grab my arm and drag her over to the wall of the pool. It was at Disney World and was a very large pool, but only about 4 feet deep. She was a fairly young girl, maybe 5 years old, trying to swim across the pool. She knew how to swim, but was a little too young and it was to far for her to get across the pool. I noticed she was in trouble and went over to her and held my arm out and walked her over to the edge. One thing I felt good about was when I first saw her and grabbed her and looked up, I saw a life guard was getting ready to jump in and help her. It was a very large pool with a lot of people in it. Kudos to him for paying attention. When she got out of the pool he thanked me and then talked to her for a couple of minutes. I was looking around and never did see the parents. I've read thats its very common for someone to drown in a pool with a lot of people around. No one notices the person in trouble until its to late.

I've known how to swim since a young age and was always thankfull for my parents making me take swim lessons. My wife can swim, but she doesn't really know how, and she knows it and doesn't like deep water.

 

[outinthetalgrass]

Yes, I can "Swim" it's not very pretty but it get me across the water.
Learned at the age of nine.. out on the fishing boat with Dad and an uncle. They tossed me out of the boat into lake michigan and yelled swim boy..... that was my swimming lesson.

 

[/pine]

I was in a safety class once and we were reviewing that plane crash on the Potomac (forget the flight #) that happened in cold weather. A civilian went out and rescued a woman who couldn't hold onto the rope dangling from the chopper. There was ice in the water and he was in street clothes.

That would be Air Florida Flight 90.... Air Florida Flight 90 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I flew on that same aircraft many times before that crash...