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The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the couple 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. 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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006 (page 14))

This doesn???t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn???t in real trouble ??? they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn???t last long ??? but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

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.
So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK ??? don???t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don???t look like they???re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, ???Are you alright???? If they can answer at all ??? they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents ??? children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Happens faster than one can imagine. Was with two grandchildren at a small pool in a Van park, another Dad with four kids playing in the kids pool. Came time to all head home for dinner, Dad starts with number 4 and takes his floats off. Then commences to do the same with number 3 while 1 and 2 are chatting away to Dad. Number 4 now walks to pool edge behind Dads vision, and jumps in, not a sound and swims like a rock straight to pool bottom.
My Grandson yells as he spotted the lad on bottom. Dad turns looks at Grandson, but none the wiser cant see number 4 at his feet on pool bottom and turns back to 1 and 2. Grandson all of 9 jumps in yelling at the top of his voice, Dad turns then spots good ol number 4 on pool bottom. Grabs him by an arm and hoiks him to pool edge spluttering and coughing. All this in less than 20 seconds
The Dad after the shock, came over and gave Grandson a huge bear hug, all the while telling him how good a person he was
Ol number 4 still going at full speed jumped up and also hugged Grandsons legs, not knowing then, why his good ol Dad was hugging Grandson so much.

I can vouch for the message in the article from experience.

When my daughter was 4 or 5, I was supervising her at the local pool. She was standing chest deep in the shallow end of the pool with a bunch of kids. I became distracted, when I looked back she had moved to the deeper part of the pool to follow the other kids and apeared to have lost her footing. Her mouth was below the water line, but she was not struggling. I immediately went to her aid. By the time I reached her, she had luckily regained her footing.

My supervisory skills improved significantly after that experience.

Thanks for posting..having kids and a pool and visiting the beach often this really opens my eyes,even though my kids can swim not all their friends are as competent which means I'm on duty whenever we are near water

This post Is the most important I have read on this forum and makes me realise why I come on here cheers again.

Someone drowning, showing "instinctive drowning response" with kids a few metres away. Really scary.

Very worthwhile thread.

Very good timely reminder for all of us, the article makes for fascinating/scary reading.
I definitely learned something new.

That article was drowning in question marks.

This might sound harsh but it is something I think is important in relation to rushing over and reacuing someone. When I did a bronze medallion course theninstruxtor showed us many things but one that made for a quick joke was when the instructor said to kick the victim. By kick I mean, she explained that you need to approach with care and explain what you're doing if you can. She said if they try to grab you use your legs to almost push them away and maintain control it they might drown you.

A year it two after the fact and I had already previously pulled someone onto my mal who was in big trouble seamlessly, there was a guy in big trouble at scarb. It wasn't big but I could only see his nose and a bit if his mouth. I paddled up to him quick and out if nowhere he jumped out of the water onto me! I slid off my board and gave a push with feet. It didn't work so then I gave him a fair boot, paddled back and explained I was going to give him my board but he needs to relax.

The rest went straight forward but a non swimmer will try to climb you. Explain what you are doing if you can or if they jump onto you swim back and push them back, then regain control.