to think we should all recognise when a person is drowning (rather than merely larking about in the water)?

[duchesse]

Thank goodness for articles like this one.

Wow, thank you for posting that duchesse. That happened to my when I was doing my PADI Open Water dive test. My tank had been placed too high up and when I entered the water on my back it pulled my head under. I couldn't right myself, took my mouthpiece out to call for help but got swamped with water. I couldn't do anything and the instructor was with the other novices only 10 feet away. He eventually looked around to see where I was, just as I thought it was all over, and managed to lift me up out of the water. I was only in about 4ft of water which is the scary thing.

scary - thank you for posting this. we were taught a bit during my padi but it was a long time ago. one thing that i remember from somewhere else is that it's so easy for a baby/toddler to drown eg in the bath because they don't know that they have to same themselves so they often don't even struggle. the image terrifies me.

I've seen that a few times now, thank you for reposting :) We should recognise this, but it's not something we even realise until it's pointed out to us due to the dramatised versions of drowning we commonly see (as the article discusses).

On a side note, during my training and assessment for becoming a paddlesports instructor it was not mentioned once