"The instinctive drowning response is a climbing response. What you see are twin splashes as the person's arms flail wide looking for something to grab on to. I

"The instinctive drowning response is a climbing response. What you see are twin splashes as the person's arms flail wide looking for something to grab on to. If they find it the automatic response is to grab it, climb up, and stand on top." Reading this, I connected the dots on a childhood experience of mine. When I was very young, I was in a public pool that had a "big" deep end, about 5.5 feet. I couldn't swim, but I still went to the deep end. I sank to the bottom and jumped to the surface to get air, and slowly traveled wherever I wanted to go. All of a sudden, WHAM! I got tackled from behind by a lifeguard and breathed a mouthful of water. He took me out and asked me if I was OK. Between hacking coughs I said I was. My mom brought my towel to me and asked me what I was supposed to say. I yelled and slapped his legs with my towel. I probably got punished for that later. At the time I didn't understand why the lifeguard rescued me. I felt fine, and I was probably about a minute away from the edge of the pool at the rate I moved. But that's exactly what I looked like from the surface - both arms grabbing upwards and sideways to drive me to the surface