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Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

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Aurelio Rivera

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A Safety Message from Aurelio Rivera

From the Desk of Aurelio Rivera, Loch Ness Lake Committee Lead:

Hello Neighbors, as we enjoy our beautiful lake this season, your safety is our top priority. I am sharing this vital article by Mario Vittone because many of us have a false sense of what a person in distress looks like. Please take a few moments to read this—it could save a life.

source: https://powerandmotoryacht.com/voyaging/drowning-doesnt-look-like-drowning

Podcast: https://megaphone.link/AIMED9690744475

Signs of Drowning: What to Know Before It’s Too Late

By Mario Vittone

If you spend time on or near the water, you should make sure that you and your family know what to look for when people are in the lake.

A former Coast Guard rescue swimmer once shared a story of a captain who jumped from his deck and sprinted through the water toward a couple swimming. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They were fine, but the captain barked “Move!” as he swam past them. Directly behind them, not 10 feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning.

How did the captain know from 50 feet away what the father couldn’t recognize from just 10?

Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect. The waving, splashing, and yelling that television prepares us to look for is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response

The “Instinctive Drowning Response” is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. It is almost always a deceptively quiet event.

  • Physiologically unable to call out: The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is a secondary function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.
  • Mouths sink and reappear: Drowning people’s mouths are not above the surface long enough to exhale, inhale, and call out. They exhale and inhale quickly before sinking again.
  • Cannot wave for help: Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface to leverage their bodies and lift their mouths out of the water.
  • No voluntary control: While struggling, people cannot stop drowning to perform voluntary movements like waving, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching for equipment.
  • Upright position: Their bodies remain upright in the water with no evidence of a supporting kick. They can only struggle on the surface for 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

Signs to Watch For

Look for these signs when people are in the water:

  • Head low in the water, mouth at water level.
  • Head tilted back with mouth open.
  • Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus.
  • Eyes closed.
  • Hair over forehead or eyes.
  • Not using legs (staying vertical).
  • Hyperventilating or gasping.
  • Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway.
  • Trying to roll over onto the back.
  • Appears to be “climbing an invisible ladder.”

The Simple Test

If someone falls in or is treading water and everything looks “okay,” don’t be too sure. The most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they are drowning.

Ask them: “Are you alright?”

If they can answer at all, they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And for parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you need to get to them and find out why.

This article originally appeared in Soundings and Power & Motoryacht magazine. Shared for the safety of Loch Ness OA Residents.