[GOPJ]

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.

Thanks ventanax for posting this - you might have saved some lives today...

Pass along ping...

[sickoflibs]

I am a experienced open water distance swimmer. Have been for years. A number of years ago I followed some friends out in the (Atlantic) Ocean when the waves were huge when I did not get the opportunity to train that particular season and I came very close to drowning trying to make it back to the beach through the huge waves while exhausted. I told myself that if I panic-ed I was dead as the waves dropped on top of me pushing me under over and over.

This was the closest I came to death and my friends were unaware of it till I told them later. An hour later the floating lifeguards came by calling people out of the water because of the wave conditions. In previous years we have swam out miles together as if it were a stroll. I had lost the fear of drowning I learned as a child and made a serious mistake.