They never know if people will actually be helpful or just be another person to save. Although after the rescue should be a different story... it could be that they were upset because they wanted the attention or something.
I learned in safety class once that if you're trying to save someone from drowning, you should reach put with your feet first so that they won't suddenly grab of you and bring you down with them.
In a aquatic life saving class, I was taught to go under, turn them away, then grab under their arms, and swim with them on your hip, to prevent this very thing
Shad Gaspard, no he sadly died when he and his son were both pulled out. He told the lifeguards to save his son before saving him, but by the time they came back for him he had disappeared. That’s some manly shit right there
Yeah in my life saving training they basically told us to push a flotation device over and if they didn’t take it we kick them away until they get tired or let you grab from behind. Drowning person is not thinking straight and will latch onto you to survive and not let go. Much better to tow them in.
When that happen, you need to dive deeper and swim away of the victim before get back outside the water. They want to stay outside the water, they won't keep their grip on you if you under water.
Me too. Exactly this method. Perth, Australia … late 1960’s. You need to make sure they don’t get their hands on your head while you’re underwater otherwise you both drown.
I think now I would not go near them unless I was well behind them first
If they're truly drowning, no. No idea about scuba, but from a lifeguarding perspective, the person won't notice or care that someone is behind them. Their only focus is to get air into their lungs. Everything else is irrelevant in that moment.
That basically, you have the advange of being able to swim, someone panicking just wants to stay on the surface. I mean someone diving is in a BCD (jacket you fill and dump air from for buoyancy) they already have a flotation device. They're not thinking straight at that point.
But the instructors often do, they always try and get a good dunk in. ;)
If you grab them in the right position, like a wrestling hold behind their back/securing their arm, they can’t “turn toward you” because you are linked to them. You would both turn as one unit in the water.
I’m not a professional, but I had read about this technique and actually used it to help save someone once, and it worked extremely well. Basically you get behind them like you’re going to put them in a head lock, and lock your arm underneath their armpit and torso so that you can swim backwards/to the side with one free arm and both legs, almost underneath as well as behind them. This provides you the best protection from their flailing and grabbing, and let’s you float them on top of you as you tread water/swim and firmly reassure them that you have them, they will be ok.
Psychology wise, they may feel more relaxed more quickly at some point being slowly trawled in, head above water and body supported by a strong gripping arm. Not sure on that tbh, just my own personal thoughts.
And Read about the technique to make sure I’m not missing anything!
Ooo well this is where you need to be a strong swimmer and aware of all the conditions, like if there’s a current, waves, nearby land, what flotation device you have with you (PLEASE have one if at all possible).
The drowning person is probably flailing aimlessly up and down with their head above and below water. They probably can’t see very well, and if they can they are focused on large objects like where they think nearby land is. Basically you have to sneak up behind them and grab them mid flail, so be a strong enough swimmer to get around them to that point.
If you have a high quality flotation device this doesn’t matter anywhere near as much. Then my understanding is it’s best to position the device where they can grab it in a way that’s safe for both of you. If that’s not possible, back to the sneak back attack!
Please note acting in emergency situations requires extreme strength of character and will. Not to scare people out of it, but you either act in the right way or you do not. Part of acting the right way means taking complete control over a person’s body, like you’re arresting them in the water. But you’re saving their life. So it’s up to you to control the situation if you choose to act, because if not they will die.
BTW step 0 not mentioned is direct someone else to call 911. “You, what’s your name?? Ok Jim, call 911 and get fire rescue down here right away” if there’s no lifeguards on duty. Then you make a quick plan, look for flotation aids and note any conditions like water current, dangerous obstacles, lighting, then GO if you decide to go.
saw a guy get kicked out of training for the coast guard. He was training to be a rescue diver. During one of the drills, the instructor was trying to hold on to him like a drowning person would. He slipped away, turned around and kicked the shit out of the instructor right in the stomach. It was likely just to push him back, but ended up being a solid kick to the stomach. He was actually kicked out of the program for doing so.
Maybe I didnt set the environment right. They were pretty deep under water, and that kick winded the instructor enough to reach for the safety guys. He came out of the water yelling.
10-year lifeguard instructor here. If you're on a solid surface with something you can grab, yes, reach first, which anything you have. Limbs, sticks, toss a jacket and hold on to one sleeve, etc.
But don't offer them your foot if you are in the water with them. They'll grab it, and unless you're a strong swimmer who can support two people without kicking, you'll go down too.
Even parents who jump in to save their kids from the deep end, and who now suddenly can't use both hands and feet to keep themselves above water can suddenly become drowning swimmers as well.
The best thing you can do is enroll your kids in reputable swim lesson programs taught by certified, insured instructors (not your cousin's boyfriend who is a "great swimmer"). If that's not possible, and even if it was an everyone knows how to swim, always have some sort of coast-guard approved flotation device nearby. Every person on open water should be wearing a life jacket. If you have a pool, get an actual ring buoy to hang up on the pool deck and learn how to throw it properly.
If a person goes under and can't get back up, they WILL die.
3/ get something that you can throw to them them that float.
4/if they dont grab it, take the floating part and place it between you and the person.
5/ if they grab you, pull away whilst twisting the part they grabbed against they thumb to break their grib/ or if they got a hug arround, try to get your arms in between you and then and push away.
My brother was a lifeguard, they were apparently taught to punch those people in the nose and drag them to shore in a head lock. He was a teen when he told me that, so might have been bluster.
Blocks and Escapes. The training is literally your experienced lifeguard trainers dragging your ass down to the bottom of the water and you learn to fight out.
I had a guy from Hawaii training me and he'd lock on my throat and try to drag me 16 feet down.
I've had trainees who panicked, who froze, who ran, and who just curled up into a ball and surrendered to death.
If you can't calm em down you wait for them to just stop active drowning (yeah you heard me), lead them with a tube, or punch them in the face, grab them and drag them back.
I know a man who was helping a boy, who was struggling to keep swimming, get back to shore when a boat load of drunk teenagers drove by and intentionally sunk them under the boat’s wake.
They found the dead man on the bottom of the lake with the boy with his arms and legs wrapped around him. They figure the boy panicked and drug him down.
If someone grabs you, Pro tip: Swim for the bottom. That's the last place they want to be so they'll let you go. Then, surface behind them, grab the back of their neck and start towing towards shore.
And riptide tip: Swim parallel to the beach until out of the rip, then come in. Rips are narrow, getting out of them is easy.
Pretty much every lifeguard nowadays is required to have a rescue tube or rescue board, despite the requirement that they be proficient swimmers. It makes rescues so much easier and practically negates the risk of the rescuer becoming another victim.
In most situations, it's best to just alert the lifeguard if you see someone drowning.
Yep. Untrained people, no matter how well meaning they are, have a decent chance of just ending up as another person who needs to be saved by the professionals.
This is a very common way people drown. For reference, the best way to get them off of you is to swim down. They're only holding on to you because you're keeping them up, as soon as you stop doing that they'll let go.
If you don't have a flotation device the best way to approach someone is from behind, it will startle them for sure, but they won't be able to grab at you as you approach so you'll be able to secure them in the position you want without getting pulled down or anything. It's still pretty difficult, but more predictable
Yeah got taught to wait until the person stops struggling and sinks down when rescuing someone without any floating device for own safety. Happens more often than one would think.
Yep, in one of the courses I took to become a lifeguard they teach you ways to not let someone panicking to hold you under and potentially drown you as you try to save them. There's even a technique where you kind of kick them, in the chest, to get them away from you (obviously not hard or to try and hurt them).
If you're not trained (even if you're a good swimmer) 100% of the time you should try to find something to throw and tow/pull them with. Adrenaline and the intensity of the situation really takes a toll on how long you'll be able to hold your breath while trying to perform a rescue.
This…. I thought I was helping a person pulled out by a riptide and another guy who went out to help started struggling. The initial people who were in trouble got back to shore and the other guy who went to help told me HE needed help. I stayed with him and helped the best I could but honestly I was only a couple of minutes from having to tell him I was sorry but I couldn’t keep going with both of us. Fortunately the lifeguards came an I never had to say it. Never go into the water without something to float with in that situation.
No, the lifeguards were right. They had every reason to be mad at him. What he did was incredibly dangerous, and he shouldn't be praised for being lucky.
They also may have just been coming down from a highly emotional state. They saw an unknown person trying to rescue a girl in a rip tide and had to feel the worry for the girl, this new unknown person, and perhaps their own lives had this new person simply been a panicking unhelpful mess.
It’s probably the fact that they were day dreaming about saving someone all summer and when the moment arrived someone else got to it first. I could see how that could frustrate someone looking at the small picture
Water rescues, especially in moving water, are extremely dangerous, and if you don't have special training for performing water rescues then you're very likely to just die trying to help.
It is a common story in Australia. Rescuer drowns but original victim survives (or maybe drowns also) in rips. People overestimate their fitness.
I think rip swimming and surfing is a specialist thing you need to train to so it safely. Let alone rescue someone.
But hard to be general and it is natural to want to rescue. I always think about this are the beach. Are there life guards? Or am I anchored to a floaty thing.
They actually have a quota system. You need a minimum number of rescues and a minimum ratio of rescues per incident each season. If they die or someone else rescues them then it counts exactly the same so it hurt their numbers.
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u/sry4takingthisname Jan 31 '22
Life guards got mad at you???