How to spot someone drowning...something we all should know.

NightSailor

Captain
The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”
How did this captain know, from fifty feet away, what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. 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.
The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC). Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:

  1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
  2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
  3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
  4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
  5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
 
Post is right-on, saw it in a pool when I was young. Kid struggled for five seconds then simply slipped under a easy as can be. Life Guard made the save, would not have noticed unless very alert. This kid was right next to the side of the pool.

Most happen within 25 feet of shore. Saddest fact, 95% of deaths recovered by the Coast Guard are people not wearing a life vest, often the life vest is found in the boat.
 
As a certified lifeguard, I can speak to this matter. Drowning is actually a three-step process under ideal conditions.
1. Distressed swimmer- Victim has become too exhausted to continue swimming, but is still conscious and able to support themselves above the surface. They will exhibit no forward progress and may or may not be able to call for help.
2. Active drowning victim- After the victim aspirates some water, the instinctive drowning response kicks in. The person will exhibit the traits of what most of us consider drowning: thrashing about and unable to reliably stay above the surface of the water. This phase, however, is quite short and may last less than 30 seconds as the victim quickly becomes too exhausted to continue drowning.
Passive drowning victim- The victim becomes unconscious and either floats (generally face-down) or sinks.
Unfortunatley, drowning may skip any stage on the way to passive, depending on the situation and conditions. Even under ideal circumstances, drowning can occur within the space of a minute.
Although untrained people can generally assist a distressed swimmer fairly safely, approaching an active drowning victim is extremely dangerous. Lifeguards and other trained personnel have training and equipment that keeps us safe. An active drowning victim is not able to think and act coherently; by that point it is all instinct. Active drowning victims can kill their rescuers in their struggle for air. Passive drowning victims seem more benign, but attempting to return even an older child to saftey is exhausting without proper equipment. Lastly, never get in the water, even with a distressed swimmer, unless absolutley necessary. Always attempt the rescue with something (line and buoy, reaching pole or your Sunfish) between you and the victim first.
 
As a certified lifeguard, I can speak to this matter. Drowning is actually a three-step process under ideal conditions.
1. Distressed swimmer- Victim has become too exhausted to continue swimming, but is still conscious and able to support themselves above the surface. They will exhibit no forward progress and may or may not be able to call for help.
2. Active drowning victim- After the victim aspirates some water, the instinctive drowning response kicks in. The person will exhibit the traits of what most of us consider drowning: thrashing about and unable to reliably stay above the surface of the water. This phase, however, is quite short and may last less than 30 seconds as the victim quickly becomes too exhausted to continue drowning.
Passive drowning victim- The victim becomes unconscious and either floats (generally face-down) or sinks.
Unfortunatley, drowning may skip any stage on the way to passive, depending on the situation and conditions. Even under ideal circumstances, drowning can occur within the space of a minute.
Although untrained people can generally assist a distressed swimmer fairly safely, approaching an active drowning victim is extremely dangerous. Lifeguards and other trained personnel have training and equipment that keeps us safe. An active drowning victim is not able to think and act coherently; by that point it is all instinct. Active drowning victims can kill their rescuers in their struggle for air. Passive drowning victims seem more benign, but attempting to return even an older child to saftey is exhausting without proper equipment. Lastly, never get in the water, even with a distressed swimmer, unless absolutley necessary. Always attempt the rescue with something (line and buoy, reaching pole or your Sunfish) between you and the victim first.

Good information, but please take it farther. Why don't you discuss in detail the proper way to approach someone actively drowning.
 
Unless you have Life Guard training, throw a flotation device, extend an oar or toss a line. A drowning victim will put a death lock on you and take you down with him/her. You need proper training to break the lock and know how to swim with a disabled swimmer.
 

Back
Top