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Three years ago I came close to drowning. I'm a strong swimmer, spent many years in a canoe, and am very comfortable being underwater. I went white water rafti

Three years ago I came close to drowning. I'm a strong swimmer, spent many years in a canoe, and am very comfortable being underwater. I went white water rafting with some friends, and we lost it on a tricky section of water. Our instructor was stuck standing on a rock by the raft, and I was in the water holding on to the raft. Fine, except that I was facing the rapid waters head-on, unable to speak and breathe. And still I held on to the raft. It took the instructor screaming that he was willing to break my hand by stamping on it - and then giving my hands a swift warning kick - before I would let go, float away and recover myself. It was truly scary at the time to think that whilst I'm rational, good with water etc, when in that mildly uncomfortable situation, my brain wanted to hold on, even if it meant I was taking on water. I'm not sure why the threat and warning kick were so effective, but am hugely thankful I got away with nothing but a bit of a bruised mind :)

c1sc0 16y ago
Last year I came close to drowning because of massive cramping at the end of a one-hour training in open water. The frightening part is that it took myself a long time to realize I was drowning: I probably was a bit drowsy from hypothermia. I remember going through 'left foot cramping, just continue, you'll be fine' all the way through cramping up of my upper legs & finally abdomen until I realized I was in trouble. I concur that once you are in trouble it is very difficult to signal anything to bystanders. Lessons learned: swim parallel to the coastline & don't swim alone. When you start to cramp up start to swim more conservatively, change styles, when it gets really bad, assume a fetal position & focus on floating, don't try to swim. The cramps will eventually go away, then you can slowly start moving again. Watch out for hypothermia.

c1sc0 16y ago

Last year I came close to drowning because of massive cramping at the end of a one-hour training in open water. The frightening part is that it took myself a long time to realize I was drowning: I probably was a bit drowsy from hypothermia. I remember going through 'left foot cramping, just continue, you'll be fine' all the way through cramping up of my upper legs & finally abdomen until I realized I was in trouble. I concur that once you are in trouble it is very difficult to signal anything to bystanders. Lessons learned: swim parallel to the coastline & don't swim alone. When you start to cramp up start to swim more conservatively, change styles, when it gets really bad, assume a fetal position & focus on floating, don't try to swim. The cramps will eventually go away, then you can slowly start moving again. Watch out for hypothermia.