True story, falling under the category of "how do some of us ever survive to adulthood?"
For several years, my son's email moniker was "gatorbait" because of a stupid thing he did while in college in Jackson, MS. He and some other testosterone-addled friends would go out at night and catch 2 to 3 foot gators, mostly for thrill-seeking and because the gators were fascinating to watch--animals have always intrigued him. They would spot them in the water and simply jump on them, wrestle them to the bank, observe their behavior, take pictures and let them go. (No gators were harmed in this tale.)
One night, he miscalculated and jumped onto a gator that was considerably larger than he is.
John's a big guy, ex-wrestler, black belt, a rock-climber and a powerful young man. But he said that instantly they had rocketed 20 or 30 yards down the river, while he held on for dear life. The gator's reaction was so instantaneous and violent that he literally had no time to let go. When he realized the situation he was in, he thought the only thing worse than being in the water in the dark attached to a gator that size was to be in the water and not know where it was. So he continued to hold on.
Then the gator started rolling while he was still locked on with his arms and legs. His friends ran down the bank with flashlights and he could see them shining at him above the surface. At one point, when the light hit the gator, he was looking directly into its eye, which he said was one of the most unnerving moments of all. He saw hands reaching out to him, timed his move when the gator rolled him to the surface, grabbed them and was pulled to safety by his friends. The whole experience lasted perhaps a minute or two but it transformed him from a heedless, "immortal" risk-taker to a thoughtful, responsible adult who now weighs the pros and cons of everything before plunging in. So, despite the outrage his mother and I expressed when we learned about this years afterward, maybe on balance it wasn't all bad.
But, yeah, good call on not going swimming yesterday, KJ