Thread: Kids & Boats
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Old 03-14-2017, 07:36 AM   #5
Gdavid
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City: Owings, Md
Vessel Name: Graceland
Vessel Model: Mainship 34 MK1
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 1,381
When swimming off of the boat I find it helpful to trail a line behind the boat with a float of some kind on it. It takes surprising little current to sweep you away; Swimming back to the boat against the current while fighting off panic can exhaust a swimmer very quickly. With a ~75' line by the time you notice you are drifting away from the boat, you still have time to swim across current over and grab it. The float on the end is always large enough to be easily seen, either a PFD or a tube.

There is a great write up I've seen shared a couple of times about drowning not appearing like what you might expect. The victim rarely thrashes around violently and yelling, instead they are expending all effort to stay up and fighting quietly for each breath. I ran into this last summer (I probably shared the story here already) at the Somers Cove pool in Crisfield. In a pool full of children an adults, a boy around 7-9 years old had wandered to far down the gradual drop off and was struggling to gulp air while jumping off of the tips of his toes. His mother was attentively watching her 3 kids (the boy had a twin and a younger sibling) and was rushing across the pool but didn't yell for help. My wife and I were busy with our own 3 kids and I have no idea how long this kid was struggling while he was in arms reach behind me. I finally noticed and yanked him unceremoniously up by the arm and at the same time saw his mother rushing across the pool. It was an interesting little insight to human behavior, everyone (including me) was minding their own business to such a degree that we become oblivious. The mother's reaction was also interesting in that she was clearly panicked but something prevented her for calling out for help.
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