[Boomer One]

Took a swimming course in physical education many years ago and we were taught “drown proofing”, a survival technique supposedly developed by a pilot shot down in the Pacific during WW2. System involves no swimming to tire you out, simply bobbing up and down. Basically you take a deep breath, allow your body to sink, bend over so that your upper body is horizontal to the water surface, rise, take a deep breath and repeat. The air in your lungs provides ballast needed to rise. We were required to do this for an entire class, demonstrating the effectiveness of the system. Don’t know if anyone teaches this anymore but think it should be mandatory for beginning swimmers.

[george76]

Good system

[TalBlack]

I think that was called the dead man’s float.

[alexander_busek]

Basically you take a deep breath, allow your body to sink, bend over so that your upper body is horizontal to the water surface, rise, take a deep breath and repeat. The air in your lungs provides ballast buoyancy needed to rise.

The last thing you need in a situation like that is ballast.

Regards,

[Sporke]

We were taught a variation of that at Navy boot camp in the 80s. I wasn’t a good swimmer but that info made me feel a bit safer.