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Comment by natep | Hacker News Reader

As a former lifeguard (certification has expired), I agree with btilly. Treading water without your hands was part of the test for this reason. Part of the training also involved being grabbed underwater by fellow trainees. Until you've actually been grabbed in a bear hug underwater, you can't really prepare yourself for what it feels like. And this is with someone who isn't panicking, and that you know will let go if you can't break their hold after a while.

Another important thing that they brought up in my training: the first thing to check for before going in to save someone (land or sea) is if the conditions are safe. As far as I know, every trained rescuer is told to put their own safety above the person or people they are trying to save. While I don't fault anyone that sacrifices themselves to save others, it doesn't make sense to add another death to what is already a tragedy.

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I'm not a lifeguard -- I'm not even much of a swimmer -- but I am trained in First Aid. One of the things we were taught is not to just rush to be a hero when you come upon an apparent trouble situation. You first need to assess the situation and area with respect to the safety of yourself, and any bystanders.

Example scenario (based on a real life occurrence, as related by my instructor): You approach an indoor pool, and see what looks to be a child floating face down in the water, and an adult also floating similarly nearby. Your first instinct might be to dive in to save one or both of them, but a subtle clue is present: while the child is in swimming attire, the adult is in street clothes. In actual fact, a live wire has somehow come to be in contact with the water -- the adult had dived in to try to save the child, but was electrocuted.

What you said about people bear hugging you underwater reminds me of when I was on a swim team and we played a game called "Sharks and Minnows."

The lone shark starts at one end of a 25 meter pool, all the minnows at the other. The coach blows the whistle and all the minnows have to try to reach the other end without getting caught at the surface. Any minnows caught at the surface immediately become sharks. Repeat until there are no minnows.

I wasn't the fastest swimmer, but I could easily hold my breath from one end of the pool to the other, including wrestling underwater with sharks. If Sharks and Minnows were an Olympic sport I would have been competitive. Of course, that was when I was twelve ;-) At this point, I think I'd carefully consider how to approach an obviously drowning person.

I remember playing that.

My strategy was to breast-stroke as fast as I could while not quite scraping the bottom of the pool with my chest.

I usually came out pretty well in the end :)

We would also do exercises in the diving pool of treading water for a half hour+ at a time. Good times.

(I was also around 12)

I absolutely love the mechanics of that game. First of all it's a blast. But the cool part is that the game mechanics themselves ensure that everybody is safe. The minnows want to stay underwater to win the game, which is a secondary goal to wanting to breathe. And the sharks want to get the minnows to the surface to win the game. So fight it out as much as you want, but the minnows have to TRY to not breathe.

As a former Bronze Cross I also agree with btilly. I practiced swimming for thousands (training, competitively, and pleasure) of hours before having to save my first drowning victim. If you don't have the experience you are going to put yourself and the other person at great risk.

"Another important thing that they brought up in my training: the first thing to check for before going in to save someone (land or sea) is if the conditions are safe. As far as I know, every trained rescuer is told to put their own safety above the person or people they are trying to save."

Absolutely.

NOLS and the Sierra Club tell you the same thing, as well -- if you lead a hike for the Sierra Club and someone gets hurt, the FIRST thing you do is make sure the situation is safe. It doesn't do anyone any good if someone gets hurt and you get yourself hurt trying to get to them -- because now there are TWO victims.

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