Worth Reading! you might save a life

General Discussion
1

this article, “Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning” is worth a read:  I included a snippet or two to give you an idea.

http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/

“Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving,
splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares
us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.”

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

  • Head low in the water, mouth at water level
  • Head tilted back with mouth open
  • Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
  • Eyes closed
  • Hair over forehead or eyes
  • Not using legs – Vertical
  • Hyperventilating or gasping
  • Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
  • Trying to roll over on the back
  • Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.
2

That is a very good list.  In many areas anyone over neck deep is a candidate for trouble. And if you're in the mode for checking on someone take a float, a surfboard or boogie is excellent, it is extremely difficult to help someone without a float.

3

did you know you can drown in your bed?

if you get the smallest amount of water in your lungs,

your body will try and get that alien mass out.

how?

by filling your lungs with ... water !

so if you think you have inhaled water, go to a hospital!

i just learned that doing a Lifeguarding Course with ASI

4

Thank f*ck for my cheap surfmat. When barbecuing near a river mouth on a king tide, i  told my wifes aunty ( 68 ) not to try to swim across the 3 metre wide channel, as the tide was going out, and the river narrows and turns right on the entrance ( which makes the water get very fast,very quickly as it gets to the bend ). I turn around and guess what?? She tried to cross and started getting taken towards the mouth ( and the ocean ). I grabbed the mat, and paddled after her, i was stuffed when i got to her ( 60 metres? ) and pushed her to the bank. She got away with no injuries, however i happened to grab, and stand on some oysters beds!!.

 

I would not have reached her without the mat, and if i did, there's no way i could have dragged us both back to shore.

5

I have paddle to distressed surfers who have lost their boards a few times and hopped off mine and we hung out for a while and rested with the board float.  Both times these guys had MMA heavy weight fighter builds and looked totally in shape. They were really good longboard surfers also.  One dude reluctantly accepted and the other you didn’t need to ask twice, he grabbed on.

100 plus yards away from your board might not seem like a big deal, but strong currents, low body fat , and full of pride can get you in trouble.

6

I had almost drowned at trail 5 at sano

high tide

red tide

constant surf no lulls

leash snaped and Im caught in a washing machine area just north of the trail

was doing good untill a chop cam up and I mistimed my breathing

got a lung full and got hit by some white wash

I was thinking this was it, this is how I go...

saw a guy about 30 yards away, I rose my arm and he noticed me signaling for help.

thank God "John" was there in seconds.

he was worried that I was gonna freek out, as he kept his distance and held the board out to me.

once I had hold of the nose of the board I was ok to clear my lungs.

he stayed with me all the way to the shore,

God bless you, John, and thank you John

 

grabbed a spare leash and went back out

had to

 

7

my take is that if you wouldn't go out without your board in certain conditions. you're out of your league surfing in those conditions and shouldn't be out there.

 

8

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my take is that if you wouldn't go out without your board in certain conditions. you're out of your league surfing in those conditions and shouldn't be out there.

 

[/quote]

 

Mine too.

9

I agree

at that time in my life I could hold my breath for some time but not with a lung full of water

believe me , you cant yell for help,, and in bumpy water its hard to get recovered on your own.

 

10

     Howzit wouter, Since I went thru radiation I asperate when I swallow food or drink liquids. Asperating is when you you drink or eat parts of the food or liquids try to go into your lungs and you start coughing a lot and it feels like I am drowning plus I only have half of my lung capacity that I had before. O have to be very careful and in the morning when I garle water and wipe my face at the same time I almost panic from not having any air in my lungs. I ahve come close 2 times of almost drowning while surfing but I made it to the surface after going down the third time in both instances. It's not a very nice feeling and I feel it almost every morning. Aloha,Kokua

11

god i had an experience like this.Sombrio was huge, usually its 3 break, that day was only one long huge line… the left was huge.

i didnt have a gun so i decided to paddle in the channel “just to watch” from a  bit closer… huge mistake, so much water moving hot suck at the peak, no one out and hug back line coming, i knew i was gonna eat it on the head… feel my leash pulling soo freaking hard and…snap! i was so far out and the rip was so strong, try to swim in a 5 mm suit with booty and glove… useless.

 i swam on my back for 2:30 hr… when i reached the beach i realised how stupid i am and i jusr ayed there for 30 min… i though that was it for me that day

the funny thing is that when you think youre going to die you really feel like you will be a better person when you come out,   but i am the same fuckin grumpy board shaper.

 

 

12

Very good description on that list!  everyone should remember it.

 

I was surfing a spot on the west side of Cabo.  Saw a local family making a commotion on the beach,

when I kicked out of a wave on the inside I saw a kid's head about 20 feet away in the channel. 

The pudgy Mexican boy had that look on his face: glassy-eyed, not yelling, dipping down with just

his mouth emerging from the water.  When I got to him I knew he might try to "climb up" me, then I'd

be the one drowning, so I put my board out to him.  He didn't take it, so I scooped him on to it

and we took the next whitewater in.  At the end of the ride in, I slipped off the board and the kid

rode by himself (probably for his first ride on a wave ever,) until the fins hit the sand.

 

His parents came running up to him, then I saw he was really overweight, probably about 8 years

old, he had no business being in the water.  The people were not local, they were Mexican tourists. 

They grabbed him, and the parents and the rest of the family went back to their car and sped off...

...other than me saying, "Adios..." not a word was exchanged.

 

The funny part was the entire thing was video-taped by one of our guys, so every night, they would

play "private news highlights" of the "big rescue" ha ha.   Ended up being used for the guy's media

project at Brooks Institute. 

 

Glad I could help...

 

...since that time I've seen that same look on others in the water, even experienced surfers in larger surf.

13

I remember a number of years ago surfing a point and the wind turned strong croshore into the point, causing the usual outbound rip alongside the rocks to angle towards the rocks rather than away. Its also an awful wind for wave shape and the surfers rapidly exited the water due to poor wave quality - except I noticed one young surfer who was in the rip paddling towards the beach at an angle away from the rocks and not actually going anywhere.

After observing him for a bit I paddled up to him and said are you alright? The answer was “yes”. I tried another question “can you get in?” - the answer was “no” !

So I explained to him that what we were going to do was paddle with the rip out to sea even though we ultimately want to go to the beach. Then when we were free of the rip we would paddle against the wind across the beach and only when we were well across the beach would we try to go back in.

On the beach he thanked me and shook my hand.

14

I guess I should point out that if you are not trained at rescue techniques, it can be hazardous to try to help a drowning person.  Give them your surfboard to float on, is the safest bet.  If you approach them in the water, they often WILL often try to use you for floation, ie climb on top of you.  If that happens, your best option is to go underwater – which is the last place they want to be… and then surface farther away, try to approach them from the rear.

On second thought, forget all that.  Just take a water safety/CPR/lifesaving course.  Learn this stuff.  If you are in the water often enough, odd are pretty high that you eventually will need to know it.

15

As a PADI Rescue Diver I’ve had a few “opportunities” to try out their training (it works!) Here’s two:

Spring of '07 - Kayaking about 1 mile off, between County Line and Leo Carrillo. Typical early spring conditions - NW wind about 10-15kts, water about 51-54f. While I was fishing, I watched a kite boarder who seemed to be struggling. His kite would go down, then he’d pop it up, only to go down again. After appx, 30 minutes, his kite went down and didn’t come up again. After 5 minutes. I decided to paddle over and make sure he was OK.

I stopped about 10ft from him and asked if he was OK while observing him (per training). He was VERY pale, hyperventilating slightly, had a blank expression, and didn’t respond to my questions. I figured (based on his “soak time” and appearance) that he was hypothermic, and panicked. Then he reacted as I’d been warned about - he lunged towards me and started blindly thrashing and “climbing the invisible ladder” as someone mentioned earlier in the thread. I used my paddle to fend him off and calmly informed him that he would have to settle down to get in my boat, or I would throw him a line and tow him in. After a few seconds he did calm down, we got him and his kite rig in the boat, and paddled to shore until a lifeguard met us and took over.

(BTW - the Lifeguard told me that they don’t deal with their rigs - they just cut them free)

 

The other was a spearfisherman who kicked out past another surfer & I on a fairly heavy day (1.5 to DOH waves). The other surfer & I laughed about it, thinking that the visibility would be terrible (usually 10ft on a GOOD day at this spot). 20 minutes later, he passed us again on his way in. Somewhere in the impact zone, he must have panicked and screamed the magic word (HELP!!). I looked at the other guy and said “Let’s go! I’m a PADI rescue diver.” He asked how he could help, I asked if he’d take my board when I got to the diver, then stay close in case I needed him. As we approached him, I yelled out “Diver, are you OK?” - He screamed “HEEEELLLLPP!!!” Guess not… So I instructed him to ditch his weight belt and told him that I am a rescue diver and that he was going to be OK. That seemed to calm him a bit.

When I got to him I found that he HADN’T ditch his weights, or his gun, and we were standing on the bottom in chest deep water. I took his weight belt off (and STUPIDLY put it over one of my own shoulders!), got an arm under his armpits from behind, and told him we were going to roll up on the beach with the next wave. The next wave rolled us up just like I said it would. When we got to the dry sand, I hung around for a couple minutes to see that he was OK. Other than a little fright and embarrassment, he was fine.

 

The main difference in the two rescues was the victims - the first one would have probably capsized my boat and tried to climb over me if I hadn’t kept a safe distance and fended him off awhile I waited for him to calm (or tire) - also, we were way out past the surfline in calm water with a 12’6" Ocean Kayak, so I had more time (and water, food & beer!).

The second was responding (though not obeying) and cooperative. Since we were in the surfline and VERY close to shore, I acted a bit quicker.

16

Great suggestion Keith on the Water Safety/CPR Course. I’ve rescued 4 swimmers that were in trouble over the years and all of them had that crazed, insane panicked look. Thrashing around and screaming like crazy, extremely combative until they had some sort of floatation under them.

I acually had a drowning incedent myself in 99. For some reason still unknown I passed out in the water (seizure? fatigue? dehydration?) and after a while my two buddies were wondering where I was. They saw my board without me in sight and the decided to go over and pull on the leash. There I was floating up to the surface face down, blue and not breathing. They acted quickly, got me back on my board, while one was pushing us in the other gave me mouth to mouth and got me breathing again. The next thing I remember was being in the hospital getting ready to be intubated. I was in a coma and on a respirator for 3 days and was released a few days later after that. When I was admitted I had a blood/oxygen level of 20%! After 6 weeks of recovery I was back in the water.

The crazy thing was, and it’s no bullshit, it was a small day, riding longboards and we were all deciding if we were going to use a leash or not. Since I hate chasing down my board I opted for the leash. Thinking about it know I probably would have drifted off into oblivion and died only to be found weeks later washed up somewhere if I didn’t go with the leggie. To this day my buddies don’t really know how they saved me, they had no formal training other than some CPR stuff from school health class decades ago. They just said they instantly went into damage control mode, somehow recalling that little kernal of knowledge from years ago, and not panicking during an emergency situation.

17

The first time I rescued someone in trouble, was Dec.1958 in 12 foot surf at Horseshoe Reef in La Jolla.    Over the years I've rescued six people.    To a man, not one of them thanked me at the time.    The last rescue was in 1974, and that fellow finally thanked me some twenty years later!    My conclusion is that being rescued is bad for the persons self esteem.   It's embaressing for them.    So, not wanting to harm anyones psyche, I refrain from rescueing people now.    Think how good they will feel when they struggle to the beach, all on thier own!   

18

often times a person in full panic will not obey simple instructions.  I was taught to approach a "climber" underwater, spin them if necessary so they can be controlled from behind and swim them to safety.  This is in a no additional flotation situation.

It can be brutal but effective.  An old fisherman in N. Cal. told me that racoons drown the best of dogs by climbing them in the water.

Three saves to date.