BuffettNews.com

One of my shipmates over at the Data Systems Tech board I belong to posted this.
I thought it was important enough to bring over here.

Drowning? Not likely.

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!”

http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/

^Make sure to click the link to read the rest of the story...

That's so scary, and good to know! Thanks Don.

Heading to Tybee Island next month, and I keep reading reports of too frequent drownings, from people going out through the shallow water to a sand bar, and then the tide comes in and they're not strong enough to make it back to the beach. I've also read that most children will drown in about 20 seconds, and adults up to 60.

This report was an eye opener... I'll definitely be very dilligent and attentive... and careful.

Whoa.....

This is a really important article for anyone who spends any time around the water. I've been around the water my entire life and didn't know most of what I just read!

Thanks, Don!

So if a crew member falls overboard and every looks O.K. – 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.

Good info. I learned a lot from that.

Thanks for posting.

I have pulled 3 children at seperate times from swimming pools.

The 1st in a public pool the mother thought the child was safe in a ring but the child turned itself upside down. Jumped in from the side and got an angry glare from the mum who had not seen her child upside down.

The other 2 were at parties with lots of adults about and both times the children slipped into the pool, no yelling or splashing they just sink to the bottom and stand there looking up.

"And parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why."

This is good advice all the way around. When I worked on an ambulance we knew if a kid was quiet we were in for a rough ride to the ER! Thanks Don!

The "stranded-on-sand-bar" ordeal happens several times each summer at the northeast end of Sullivans Island SC. The bar constantly changes shape and size with the water flowing in and out of Breach Inlet between Sullivans Island and Isle of Palms. It usually involves folks unfamiliar with the area. It is a nice walk around the tip of the bar out into the ocean but we have a 6 foot tide here and when it turns you better get your rear end back to the beach. The first thing that happens is the neck of sand (at the northeast end) that gets you out onto the big part of the bar disappears. You're then on an island but you still have time if you get it in gear. But people get caught up in the beauty of being out there. Connie knows about this place. You can probably google a map of Sullivans Island or Breach Inlet SC and see this. I haven't tried.

Good information - thanks for posting Don. I'm glad I read this....I sent it to a number of other folks I know

Just had this happen this week! He is fine. It was but not cardiac.

Thanks for posting this. Very good information!

Not trying to steal RinglingRingling's tagline, but I also took lifeguard training back when I was younger, both as a Boy Scout and also for our local Park and Rec Department. For one season I worked as a lifeguard at a beach on the Mississippi River, and it was drilled into us that the people out in the deeper water were not really the ones that had to be watched at all times; it was the little kids and the toddlers in the knee-deep area along the shoreline.

-"BB"-

Very informative. Thanks for sharing.

dnw wrote:Very informative. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, wDs!!!