Drowning information and video

[MossRoad]

As I recall from my lifesaving classes back in the 70's the American Red Cross really frowned on using flotation devices on children (and adults) that cannot swim. The reason: It gives people a false sense of security in the water. Then you go out over your head, slip out or off of the flotation device and
you're in trouble.

Water wings really suck. Where are they located? Just above your elbows. Put your arms up in the air over your head. Pretend you are in the water. Where's your mouth and nose? Just under the water wings.

Lifeguard in the video did a good job. Think if he was scanning the pool and just went past her? 4-5 seconds to the end of the scan then 4-5 seconds back... imagine if a hot girl in a bikini caught his eye. Yikes! He did good. :thumbsup:

 

[dmccarty]

Bumping this back up since swimming season is starting.

Be careful boating because the air temperature can be hot this time of year but water temperature, especially on lakes, can still be very cold. If the water is cold enough and one's head goes underwater, one can get a gasp reflex which causes one to breath in which is not a good idea when you head is underwater.

Later,
Dan

 

[Jstpssng]

Bumping this back up since swimming season is starting.

Be careful boating because the air temperature can be hot this time of year but water temperature, especially on lakes, can still be very cold. If the water is cold enough and one's head goes underwater, one can get a gasp reflex which causes one to breath in which is not a good idea when you head is underwater.

Later,
Dan

Good call. We've had several drowning incidents up here in the last few weeks... including one 18 YO who tried to swim a river.

 

[masscity]

When my younger brother was 16, he and a younger boy probably 13 went to the lake for a swim.

The 13 year old was swimming across some deeper water and got into trouble. At first my brother thought he was goofing around, but realized it was serious.

My brother was strong and a good swimmer, but had no training to help someone that was drowning. He tried his best several times to save the boy, but the boy kept grabbing on to my brother and pulling him down. Finally my brother had to save himself and left.

The boy drowned and we still have his baseball cap hanging in our sauna, because they had sauna the night before.

My brother has talked to me about it a couple of times and feels terrible that he couldn't help the boy.

 

[MossRoad]

Memorial Day weekend on Lake Superior.... brrrr.....
Still ice on Lake Superior – never before seen to this extent in the satellite era | Watts Up With That?

 

[dmccarty]

Bumping this back up since swimming season has started. Guess I forgot to do this in 2015 and 2016.

Later,
Dan

 

[gsganzer]

Unfortunately, that actually wasn't bad parenting, just average parenting (other than the initial decision to allow the non-swimming child in water over their head.)

I'd be the first to agree with you. But it's not that simple. You still need to be vigilant with your young kids around water, period.

Here's a story I can share:
I have a daughter that swims daily with her grandparents in their pool and can easily stay afloat, swim end to end, go under water and surface without an issue. We've also had her in the ocean multiple times with surf knocking her over etc.

A couple of years ago, we sent her to summer camp and they had a trip to a local water park. Prior to going on the trip, each kid had to qualify and show swimming proficiency. Ours passed without an issue.

When they went to the water park, they were all given a boogie board floatie. My daughter put hers in the pool, placed her belongings poolside and then turned around to jump onto her floatie. In the split second she turned around to place her belongings, another child had grabbed her floatie, so when she jumped in, there was nothing there. It freaked her out and she gulped water. The rest is just like the video. My other daughter and her friends were standing next to her and none of them realized what was going on. An alert lifeguard jumped in and grabbed her. We only learned about it because she came home from the waterpark with a note that told us about it.

I saw that video the other year and it was an eye opener. My daughters scenario was textbook to the video, no screaming, no arm waving etc. She's a good swimmer, but the scenario caught her off guard and she panicked.

That was a great video to help "calibrate" us parents as to what to watch for. It was a real eye opener for me.

 

[dodge man]

Good video, kudos to the life guard, he was on the ball. My daughter is a life guard, I will have to show this to her.

I was at a large crowded pool at Disney. A very similar thing happened and I went over and grabbed the kid and pulled her to the edge, when I looked over the the side of the pool I could see a life guard was gettting ready to jump in, so he was on the ball to.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a personal experience with a person drowning. I was working on a house out at the lake and saw a lady across the channel from me walking along the shore. She was wearing a big t-shirt over a bathing suit. I saw her take off her T shirt, fold it up and place it on the shore on top of her flip flops. Then she jumped in and swam out into the water a little ways. She then swam back to the shore to where I guess she could stand. She paused there for a little bit, then swam back out into the deep water. I was on a ladder watching her, but then went back to what I was working on and lost track of her. The homeowner and I both heard her yell help. She only said it once. I looked over at her and she looked like she was treading water, but could barely get her face out of the water. I got off the ladder, took off my shirt and shoes and jumped in after her. The home owner called 9-11 and I could here her screaming into the phone what was happening and that she went under and hadn't come up again. I didn't actually see her go under, I was just trying to swim as fast as I could to get there. It was probably 100 yards out to her, which was about halfway in the middle of the channel. I never saw her again. She just went down quietly without any sort of a struggle or thrashing around like you see in the movies.

The ambulance was there in about ten minutes. They both jumped in with a raft. I went out with them in the raft and tried to help pinpoint where I last saw here. They kept diving down looking for her. Three fire trucks arrived shortly after the ambulance and about half a dozen guys came out to look for her too. About half an hour into it, the Game Wardens showed up with a boat. They launched it off of the bank and took over the search. They found her after about an hour of looking.

What haunts me the most is how quickly and quietly it happened. She just all of a sudden sank. My wife is a nurse and she relayed what happened to a few doctors she knows. They said that it was very common. People that can swim drown because they are too exhausted to keep swimming, or cramp up so bad that they cannot move.

 

[k0ua]

Thanks for posting Dan.