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Comment by ender7 | Hacker News Reader

Friendly reminder: rescuing a drowning person (even a child) is incredibly dangerous if you have not been trained in how to do it. They will try to climb on top of you if they get a hold of you and unless you are an exceptionally strong swimmer they will then proceed to drown you. The drowning reflex overrides most people's abilities to process other thoughts, with the result that a loved one is just as likely to drown you as a stranger.

Many people are embarrassed by their inability to swim and so won't mention it in circumstances that you would expect them to -- visits to water parks, beaches, lakes, or even acting jobs that involve being pushed off a dock into a lake (oy). Don't assume that a person can swim, even if they tell you otherwise.

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...rescuing a drowning person (even a child) is incredibly dangerous...

If you're swimming in crowded conditions, this can happen when you least expect it. I don't actually remember learning to swim, so it wasn't remarkable that I was hanging out, treading water, in the deep end at a resort at the age of six or seven. What was remarkable was suddenly finding myself at the bottom, thrust down by strong adult hands. Apparently my instincts were good, so before surfacing I swam away from the non-swimming adult who had just descended a ladder and grabbed the first thing that came to hand. Apparently the buoyancy she got from me was enough to get her back to the ladder. Several minutes later I was telling my mother that I thought someone had dunked me, when the non-swimming woman came up and tearfully apologized.

Teach your kids to swim, while they're very young!

Totally depends on the situation. Grabbing a small kid in two-foot-deep water isn't dangerous. They latch on and you walk away with them. Grabbing a 200lb man thrashing after falling off a boat ... get some equipment.

Fyi, the same rules apply when rescuing people from cliffs or other high places. Don't ever "throw them a rope". Don't approach until ready. They will latch onto anything nearby even if that means them falling because they cannot hold (human hands cannot properly hold bodyweight on modern nylon ropes).

If said man has a life jacket on, grab the shoulders, push him under as far as you can go, then pull up. The buoyancy of the life jacket will provide additional momentum for pulling into the boat (assuming low sides)

The Boy Scout lifesaving training says, when that happens (the victim climbs on top of you) then simply dive. They will let go. Then surface and try again. And always approach from behind them, get an 'arm bar' across their chest and tow them to safety with your other arm.

> Boy Scout lifesaving training > simply

To be clear, that's what Boy Scout lifesaving training taught you, not what HN taught me.

It's dangerous to attempt a rescue technique based on a vague memory of a forum comment.

Get trained, like Joe did.

Right. Going in is actually the last resort, for trained youth anyway. We were taught "Reach, throw, row, go" in order of preference. First, lay flat on the dock and stick out an arm or leg (reach). If its too far, then throw a line with a floatation device (throw past the victim, not at them, and reel the line in until they grab it). Third, take a boat out if available. Lastly, go out yourself if absolutely necessary.

If you can rescue a cinder block from a 10 ft lake, you can rescue a child. :-)

You dip them and punch them if you have to. Incredibly dangerous when they grab on to you.

"Reach or throw, don't go" is a mnemonic for this--give the person in distress something other than you to grab.

this is pretty true, having nearly drowned once I freaked out and grabbed all over my savior. Thankfully he was at least 5-6 years older than me and had no problem containing me as he dragged me to the side of the pool.

There is a reason life guards grab from behind and disable the arms.

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