I figured out how "normal people" drown

[sunedog]

While searching for something else on another boating forum I follow, I came across this story I wrote years ago. Honestly gives me chills thinking back on that day 17 years ago. Sometimes a news report makes me wonder how seemingly normal, healthy people drown. Here is the way I nearly did:

We boat on Lake Murray in SC and it is 35 miles long and 14 miles wide at it widest point. We beached on a popular island in the middle of the lake with a wide sandy beach. There were probably 30 boats beached with us. We played for a few hours with my two year old son and had a great time. A pretty strong storm blew in from the West, directly behind my beached boat. The lake got rough and whitecapped and the waves ended up pushing my boat up the bank. When we tried to leave, I couldn't push the boat into the water by myself. No problem...a couple of guys nearby helped me push it in.

But the wind was so strong, as soon as the boat floated, it caught the wind and started to pull me parallel to the shore. Since my wife and two year old had not boarded yet, I clambered aboard and yelled for her to go back up the beach and I would motor around the point of the island (which was right next to us) and pull in to the beach around the corner heading into the wind. So I fired it up, gunned it in reverse, went around the point and headed towards that beach more or less into the wind.

But we had a miscommunication which resulted in our first mistake: I intended to beach gently into the wind. Wife thought I would get stuck again, so she picked up our child and waded into waist deep water to meet me. As I was getting closer, she stepped into a hole and the two of them disappeared below the surface. I panicked. I cut the motor, ran to the bow and dove in after them. This was my second mistake. For crying out loud, I was sitting on a throw cushion when they went under. Hellooo? Why the hell didn't I keep my head and toss them the cushion? The water was not deep, but the wind and waves were a challenge. Thankfully, I was able to quickly get them back up to the beach.

As soon as they were safe, I turned to see my boat getting blown further and further off shore. It was probably 50 yards away when I made the ridiculous decision (and third mistake) to swim after it. I dove back in and swam. And swam. And swam. Each time I looked up, I was closer to the boat, but it was still well out of reach. So I continued swimming and rapidly losing strength. (I am a long distance runner, but I rarely swim.) Eventually, I looked back at shore and concluded there was no way I had the strength to make it back. I was committed to catching the boat. Or I would drown.

I put my head down and gave it everything I had and, thankfully, caught the boat. Had to hold onto it for quite a while before I had the strength to pull myself up the ladder. Fired her up and went back to the beach and uneventfully retrieved my family.

My third mistake was particularly stupid. It was chaotic in the storm, but there were still a handful of boats left on the beach. I could have asked someone to fire up their boat and take me out to catch my boat. Even if no one would, the worst thing that would happen at that point was my boat would eventually reach shore and would probably incur minor damage and we would have to somehow get off the island.

The point of this long story is "normal" people drown when they encounter a series of events that line up just right to kill them. Taken individually, each of the mistakes above would be innocuous. But in just the right (make that wrong) order, you can die.

 

[royal4]

Excellent reminder. My friend had a similar experience. His boat started floating away and he started to swim after it in his life vest. Thinking he could go faster he ditched the life vest and after a minute or so he realized how stupid that was. He got to his boat but was exhausted. Little decisions under stress can lead to a "normal" person getting in serious trouble. There were other boats in the cove he could have waved down to help but thought he could do it no problem. Almost turned into a bad day. Be careful out there.

 

[lakeliving]

Damn. Good reminder that the boat is not worth dying for. I'm glad you and your family are ok.

 

[w5pfg]

A gentleman drowned on our lake last week saving his dog. His dog had wandered out into the lake and was "struggling." The gentlemen went to rescue his dog, slipped, and drowned. Seemed innocent. The dog turned out just fine and swam back to shore. A simple reminder than life on this earth is precious and we never know what tomorrow brings.

There are times I think we ought to all wear life jackets under way. But we don't. Do I put a lanyard on my dead-man switch? Allow alcohol on board? Lots of choices to be made when boating.

 

[Vikingstaff]

Scary story Sun, and a good reminder to us all. If one isn’t very careful in an emergency it is very easy to “jump to action” (flight or fight) instead of stopping and thinking it through.

Not boat related, but similar to “how do normal people drown”. It isn’t always in a rushed panic that we make dangerous decisions too.

I almost drown in Maui on my wife and I’s 20th anniversary 6 years ago. Any that have been on the Road to Hanna may have stopped at the Seven Sacred Pools. We were going up one pool to the other. The first few you can walk around the edges (perhaps 5-15’ cliffs with paths) to get to the next spot to climb up and over to the next pool. Each pool has a waterfall into the pool beneath them. After a few pools your only way across is swimming directly across the pool because its rock face (10-15’ high) surrounds it entirely until you get to the other side where the waterfall from above comes down the rock face. You swim to the opposite waterfall side, climb up, and rinse and repeat.

We watched a number of people swim across one after another to the other side cliff face. Most said you could touch in many spots. Didn’t seem far, our guess was +/- 50 yards. I underestimated distance, and more importantly perhaps dehydration and food intake at that point in our day (had started at 5 a.m. on our trip, been doing stops and hikes all day, was easily mid to late day). Got half way across and my heart couldn’t go anymore. I was gassed, and legs were beginning to fail me. I had to gently bob up and down and treading water, intermixed with trying to be calm and float. I’d go under for a second, than try to calmly tread water back up with my arms.

My wife was already across, and came back to me. We had her lightly pull me from behind while I tried to relax and float facing away from her (I cannot tell you how challenging that was as in my brain I was absolutely fighting off panic). Between her gentle pull, and a light treading water/floating position, she got me to the cliff side.

Once there I found a hand hold and a toe hold, and it allowed me to somewhat rest and calm my body, brain and heart. Eventually treaded water along the cliff wall stopping to hold when necessary.

However, in the midst of it, I really had some thoughts about: “this is it, and you are an idiot Jeff”. Count my blessings I could stay calm enough for my wife and I to figure it out. As bad luck would have it, no one was in that pool at the time to assist. We were solo for awhile. The other bad thing was I was 80% across by that time I ran into trouble, so safety was completing the trip. After a good hour cliffside of resting we had to still go back the same way we came in. This time I swam along the cliff edges, and stopped to rest whenever I could find something to cling onto in the cliff sides. Took a lot longer, but I got back across and could walk the edges the rest of the way back to basically sea level and the parking lot.

Normal people can make a bad choice and not realize it until it’s too late. I learned that the hard way, but was lucky it wasn’t my last lifetime lesson.

 

[BigKahuna]

Sunedog and Vikingstaff both stories gave me the chills! Glad both of you made it! I don't care if Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz is swimming off of my boat....... Everybody is given a throw cushion, ski vest, noodle, inflatable chair, or something to keep them afloat. Some people have jumped off and we'll immediately throw them a cushion. Been using them for years! It'll hold my 225 lbs up all day.

 

[Titletown Mike]

Sunedog, thankfully you are okay. I completely agree that when someone has time to think things through, usually dumb mistakes don't happen or happen very often. I was at my marina and witnessed someone get dragged off the dock. There was a fairly brisk wind and the person trying to dock their pontoon was getting pushed away from the dock on their first attempt to tie up to the dock. He backed up and tried again. One of the passengers jumped off the pontoon and onto the dock. Another person on the boat tried to thrown them a line. I don't know what happened exactly, but looked like the line was either too short or the person that threw it from the boat made a bad throw. Either way, the person on the dock noticed the pontoon being pushed away from the dock and decided to grab onto the top of the fence. Don't know if she wasn't strong, if she tripped, or what, but there she was, feet on the dock, her torso at a 90 degree angle trying to hold the boat. She was pulled off the dock, dangling off the side of the pontoon with the fence in her one armpit, then she lost her grip or couldn't hold herself anymore, then SPLASH. Several people were walking their way to give aid as this happened, but no one got there in time. It could have been horrible. Hit her head on the dock or boat or got pinned between the boat and the dock. She kept saying 'I should have just let go' while she was treading water waiting for help. 'Why didn't I let go?' She realized after it happened that she should have done things differently, but during, sometimes you don't think things through.

After a couple of us were able to get her safely back onto the dock, it sunk in. A boat is not worth getting killed over. It could have been much worse than some scrapes on her arm and sides.