> [..]bear hug him instantly and we > both start drowning[..]. For anyone who knows how to swim who's on the other side of this, what I was taught you shou

> [..]bear hug him instantly and we > both start drowning[..]. For anyone who knows how to swim who's on the other side of this, what I was taught you should do is: a) Try to find another way to deal with the situation, e.g. throw something that floats at that person, or swim to them with a tree branch, or anything you have at hand. You'll be risking your life approaching them if they're all you can grab. b) If you're OK with risking your life, you dive, approach them from underwater from the rear, and push them up by the hips long enough that they can breathe or show that they're not panicking. If they are you let them go, swim away, take a breath, and repeat. c) If somehow they manage to grab a hold of you you dive. Their panic reflex is to try to approach the surface. If you try to also approach the surface they'll try to climb on top of you and they'll likely kill you. It's really hard to get rid of someone clinging to you in the water in panic. Even an 8 year old could kill an adult male under those circumstances. People who are drowning are in a complete state of panic. If you're close enough to shore you may both be better off if you let them lose consciousness and haul them in unconscious and try to resuscitate them, otherwise you might both die.