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Biff Barksdale wrote:
TBC here, the way my friend reacted to these scenes, it's doubtful if these folks are familiar with the serious safety techniques Moonlight has described in this thread.
- Biff wrote:
They assured him they "knew what they were doing", but those are often famous last words, right?
- Biff wrote:
Has anyone firsthand knowledge of such scenes performed with poor prep? What was the result?
Here's why.
The "average" person can hold their breath an average of 20-30 seconds before starting to struggle to breath. When they are in a resting state. Add in struggling and they *might* make it to 15-20.
15-20, in normal circumstances is a fairly wide safety margin.
15-20 seconds, in the water can be the difference between living and dying. If the person that is the spotter is standing on the deck of the pool, they have a faster speed when entering the water and will get to the person faster. Probably.
If the spotter is in the water, they must get momentum up from treading water to get to the person. Forget having them standing in the shallow end and swimming to them if they get in trouble. Too hard to see.
Getting that momentum up will waste probably on the order of 1-2 seconds.
If they have a tank with them and they're floating by, underwater, they can get to the person fairly quickly, although there's still the momentum issue. Increased by not being able to "surface dive" downward. And the fact that it takes more energy to move the lower down you go.
Flippers, for any amount of speed response, would almost be mandatory. From the deck of the pool, you lose time getting to the edge. If you're on the edge, that's better.
Assuming there is no tank of air availible, you're left with cutting the rope and/or giving the person air from your own lungs which is *not* that great of a substitute, but will due for a short time.
Cutting through a rope underwater is somewhat akin to cutting through denim. Try it sometime. It's not easy. Add in additional resistance to the water and you need at least two people...one doing the breathing thing and one cutting the rope.
A simple water rescue by a trained lifeguard is not guaranteed to save a drowning victim. We are trained to save ourselves first, since if *we* die, the victim *will*.
Now..the safety goes up for the rescuer, simply because the person is bound and incapable of grabbing on and trying to drown *them* to get to the surface of the water. Climbers are *not* fun.
Personally, if I were a "normal" lifeguard, I wouldn't let you in my pool to do it. Being kinked lifeguard, I *MIGHT*. And that's one *hell* of a big "might".
Water rescue requires split second decision making...and the margin for error, as you can see from the *little* that I've outlined above...too much can go wrong even in a planned stunt.
If the people blow off safety concerns...well, you can see where something could go wrong quickly. And I didn't even get *into* what it takes to drag someone that's helpless back to the side of the pool. Which isn't easy, either.
