Waiting for unconsciousness is neither a bad idea nor should it be considered a last resort. Thinking of it as such is exactly how you get yourself in trouble y

Waiting for unconsciousness is neither a bad idea nor should it be considered a last resort. Thinking of it as such is exactly how you get yourself in trouble yourself. It's amazing how quickly you can get incapacitated in the water, you might think you can hold your breath for 30 seconds with no problem, but that doesn't work when you start with empty lungs and a kick to the stomach. Then you're oxygen deprived from the very beginning and within 15 seconds your survival instincts have taken over. Now there are two drowning people which means the next person who wants to try and make the rescue will have two people jumping on him. No one in his right mind is going to try that so the only option is to wait for unconsciousness. Unfortunately by the time the second person is unconscious the first person may well be dead. As btilly points out very aptly the first step to the rescue always has to be getting the person to calm down. However the moment they start to climb you, you need to go under to get them off. If you do manage to get a grip behind them and they start to struggle their sometimes lifeguards will arch their backs pulling both the rescuer and the victim's heads under water, this hopefully gets them to calm down. One point that isn't mentioned is that this is an entirely different situation if you have a flotation device buoyant enough to hold both of you. Lifeguard tubes are ideal for of course ideal but fun noodles or kickboards can be used in a pinch. With such a device, your goal is to get a hold of the person without losing your float. With Lifeguard tubes you want to approach the person (ideally from behind) with the tube across your chest underneath your arms and grab them underneath their arms once you have them try to get as much of their weight onto the tube. If the tube is supporting their weight then they can't put any unexpected pressure on you, and they'll calm down very quickly when they feel the stability.