I Almost Drowned Today.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
Get some swimming lessons asap. I recommend 3-5FT pools at first.

Friends of friends I know have drowned because of panicking during drowning events.
They punch and fight all forms of "help" and cause their own drowning. I recommend training and decent life jackets for all water adventures.

If what you're saying is true, you are one lucky person.

Exactly. It sounds like you need to have a better grasp on swimming before attempting such feats. I'm not saying you need to start training like Michael Phelps, but even a four year old knows that the human body has natural buoyancy and in your case you could have simply relaxed, and laid on your back and waited until you manned up and swam, or at least got a nice tan while your friends went to the trouble to drag you out.

reply to post by AlonzoTyper

I don't think its very nice to insult the o.p. he just had the fright of his life.

maybe you need one in order to learn to empathize with other people a little more.

I'd like to add my experience, cos it scared me too.

I was holidaying at a beach resort. Some of us had taken up snorkelling and i was getting the hang of it.

One afternoon I had a few drinks at the bar then sauntered down to the beach and went snorkeling by myself.

I was close to a jetty of rocks, but as I was looking down and following fish what I didn't realise was I was now quite far away from the rocks.

Then a splash of water came down the air pipe and I choked. When I tried to touch the bottom I went under.

Now I panicked .... looked for the rocks ... they seemed very far away ... started to swim towards them but was still choking and couldn't get a clear breath.

It was a massive struggle to get back to a rock and cling on for dear life. I just hung there for ages trying to compose myself.

My family and friends still at the bar completely unaware where I was.

It was the closest to death I think I have experienced.

That was a year ago. Up to that point I loved going out on water in small boats. Sailing kayaking, but just last week I was out on an open piece of water for the first time since it happened and the nightmare came back to me. I came straight back to shore and have now sold the kayak. I have lost my confidence.

I am getting a bit old now and am realising I don't have the same strength and stamina I used to have.

Slippers and pipe now.

When I was a little younger I slipped close to a pool and hit my head on the cement prior to falling in, I was unconcious when I hit the water. I woke up in the hospital bed with a mild concussion. Luckily I was at a family event and my father jumped in and saved my life. I was out that day with no severe injury but It was scary thinking I had almost lost my life. Be careful swimming If you arent sure of your ability.

reply to post by shadow12


Sorry to hear that happened to you bud. Panicking is what kills both the rescuer and the victim.

When I was going through scuba diver training many years ago in Europe, the first think the trainer taught us was: if you are trying to rescue someone on the surface and they are starting to panic -- hit them as hard as you can in the face and knock them out! Then carry them to safety.

Never had to knock anyone out for that reason, but it always stuck with me.


Khar

reply to post by shadow12
Your problem was probably caused by the cold water.A swimming pool is around 29*c,open deep water can be very cold in comparison 11-16*c this will cause "cold water shock" which will effect any muscular movement including breathing.Never enter open inland waters without considering death.

reply to post by shadow12


Glad you survived.
I don't like swimming in murky water simply because i don't know what's in there with me. I'm a regular Tarzan in clear water (albeit a chubbier version), but I am somewhat tentative when i can't see below. So, my solution is to only wade in lakes (unless they are crystal clear) and swim in pools. There isn't much in midwest lakes that could or would attack a person, other than some big snapping turtles and maybe a musky, but blame the apprehension on too many horror movies I guess.

Thanks to Jaws and Deepwater Horizon / Fukushima, I will never be found swimming in the oceans of the world.

Yeah happens to people, happened to me as well... although I managed to calm myself down and swim on my back. Face your fears and do it again.

I had a similar drowning experience when I was 12 years old. My father was a skipper of a fishing boat when I was growing up and I would spend most of my summers going out with them on the boat.

One day I was climbing around on the side of the boat without a life jacket, in a winter coat, in my rubber boots. Needless to say I slipped and fell into the water.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time as the whole crew was busy reeling the net in and were unable to hear my screams for help over the engines/hydraulics.

The jacket was soaking up water and pulling me down. I had lost one of my boots and, like you, I was expecting to die that day. I had that sense of peace that you felt. I remember my head submerging under the water, feeling really peaceful, and then my mother holding me...crying uncontrollably. She was so mad at me, but so happy that I wasn't dead.

I guess what had happened was that one of the crew members thought he heard something weird and happened to look over the side to see what it was. He saw my head going under, alerted the crew, and my dad was in the water seconds later to save my life.

I have never forgotten the day I almost drowned and I imagine you won't either.

p.s. I eventually became a lifeguard through high-school/some of college. I raced on the swim team and I love water

Growing up along the banks of the Susquehanna River which feeds the USA's Chesapeake Bay I can understand how one might panic in open water. I would never try to swim in an open water river unless it is slow moving current or in a lake. I have seen numerous bodies being pulled form the river after a drowning incident.

My mother now lives on Smith Mountain Lake in southern Virginia and it is about 220' deep at the dam and is 40 miles long/20,000 acres. I always get that feeling everytime I swim at her house. Yes it is different than a pool since often you can't see the bottom. I loved Lake Moosehead in Maine where my grandmother on my moms side liived. the wate was so clear and it was like looking into crystal clear glass as far as the light penetrated.

Dam that sounds intense, I never thought about that being any different than a pool

Sounds scary! I was always taught that when you start to panic that you should alternate between just treading water and floating rather than trying to swim anywhere.

reply to post by AlonzoTyper


Everyone one keeps telling me that i should have laid on my back and tried to float. I DID try that but my legs wouldn't go up. I really do have a hard time floating.

reply to post by shadow12


I couldn't learn to back float with the usual swimming lesson method. Following is the way I and others learned. It's NOT the regulation way of teaching back floating. It took several sessions (about 5 or 6) so, don't expect to get it the first day.

Swimming classes - it takes two people to learn to back float. Do this in a pool, not in a natural water environment.

You need the floater and the assistant. Get in about 3 feet of water, (half your body height). Have your friend, buddy (assistant) squat down and hold out both arms about 1 to 1/2 feet apart just barely below the surface of the water.

You (the floater) lay back across the assistant's arms like lying across two ladder rungs, with your arms FREE (don't get tangled in their arms.) One of the assistant's arms should be about the bottom line connecting your two shoulder blades. The other should be parellel at the BASE of your spine, right next to your patoodie in the same direction as your undies or swimwear waistband.

So, your assistant is BESIDE you, not behind you as in the usual classes.

Then, it's a matter of relaxing while being supported by your assistant, keeping your head back, belly button UP, and your hiney buoyant. Don't worry about your legs at first. Learn deep but relaxed breathing. Once you get the rest down, then learn to float the legs too.

Now, a "survival float" is completely different and to me is much harder than back floating.

A survival float you just play limp jellyfish in the water, take a deep breathe, put your face down in the water and then raise head and do an air exchange when needed, then relax head into water again. Rinse and repeat. Supposedly this dangling leg method conserves energy.

Both methods require the swimmer to feel "comfortable" enough with water to "relax."

Originally posted by shadow12
Everyone one keeps telling me that i should have laid on my back and tried to float. I DID try that but my legs wouldn't go up. I really do have a hard time floating.

I don't float on my back so well either so I learned to just lay on my back and do the backstroke. In a pool I'm always worried about running into the edges of the pool, but in open water it isn't as much of a worry except for maybe worrying about going the wrong direction. LOL Still it's a relief to be able to be floating and moving, but mostly relaxing a bit knowing that I'm not drowning.

Originally posted by Kharron
reply to post by shadow12

 

Sorry to hear that happened to you bud. Panicking is what kills both the rescuer and the victim.

When I was going through scuba diver training many years ago in Europe, the first think the trainer taught us was: if you are trying to rescue someone on the surface and they are starting to panic -- hit them as hard as you can in the face and knock them out! Then carry them to safety.

Never had to knock anyone out for that reason, but it always stuck with me.


Khar

LOL this NOT a good idea for sooooo many reasons anyone reading should immediately discount this advice.

People who can throw a punch with KO power will tell you its all about developing torque from the ground via the feet, legs then buttocks and transfering this to your upper torso and lead arm in a fluid motion.

If you're floating you will have 1/3rd the power of a solid ground punch (maximum) and hitting someone in the face is just likely to break their nose/cause some sort of laceration that will not assist the person you're trying to "save".

Watch some MMA and see how many clean KO's professionals acheive...there is a big difference between temporarily stunning someone and making them unconscious and unless your a cross between Aquaman and Mike Tyson; a punch thrown in the water is not going to make someone unconscious long enough for you to save them.

Originally posted by GezinhoKiko
reply to post by shadow12

 

with me i think its in my head
you cant see the bottom, the great distances involved
no lifeguards or many other swimmers can all be factors.
i hate that i dont have the balls to swim in open water anymore and i doubt i ever will have unless i see someone in trouble be it family/freinds/unknown peeps, i know my instincts will kick in with adrenaline and i will save someone if i had too

PLease, just throw them something, unless you are trained! When a person panicks, they can easily take you down with them. They will grab on to anything to stay above water, which is a normal reaction in that situation.

I friend took my sister out into deep, lake water and she couldn't swim. She thought my sister was going to drown her before they got to shore.

Many objects float-wood, styrofoam a life jacket...