Swimming is one of my favorite things, but it's alarmingly dangerous. On the middle school swim team we had a day of different fun races. One was underwater sw

Swimming is one of my favorite things, but it's alarmingly dangerous. On the middle school swim team we had a day of different fun races. One was underwater swimming for distance. A girl passed out around 45 meters. She just stopped swimming and started sinking. The assistant coach jumped in and pulled her out and she came to quickly. I love underwater distance swimming, my best was around 65 meters, but every time I think of that girl. In high school, I was a swim instructor for some elementary schooler. I was subbing for someone who was out and misjudged the group: I started them in the deep end of the pool. I asked the first kid to go and they pushed off and immediately started drowning. The lifeguard and I both immediately noticed. I just stepped in, pulled him to the wall, and moved the lesson to the shallow end. Oops. Last year I was doing some canyon hiking and swimming. The water depth was very unpredictable based on rain fall and the submerged rough terrain. My wife spotted a man about 30 meters ahead of us who had just started drowning. I raced over and grabbed his arm. He was a very built guy and complained his muscle had cramped. He was exhausted from fighting the water and terrified. I sat next to him for a while and he held me while he recovered. No one else was around and we had only just rounded a corner to see him. I swim a lot with my kids (6 and 8). Both can swim well and dive to the bottom of a 10 ft pool. Even still, I always watch them.