RE: [Paddlewise] How would you deal with the following situation

> From: Velasco MGySgt Louis <VelascoL_at_3MAW.USMC.MIL>
> 
> I believe the instinct for survival would pretty much take over if a
> floatation device were thrown their way.

I wondered about the possibility of getting close enough to toss my
pfd at them (I think I'd rather risk giving up my pfd rather than
coming within reach of a panicky swimmer) but I'm not sure someone that
was panicking would always be together enough to grab it.  The key
to survival here would be to *not* panick.  Also, the ability to grab
it (how many times had they gone under already... you would most likely
get only once chance to hit your target with conditions described). 

This is going to probably seem unrelated but the closest I came to this 
is being in the river with a large lab (he didn't belong to anyone in 
our group) that was panicking and attempting to crawl on top of me.
(several of us were leisurely floating downriver alongside our boats 
for recreation in a long, wide and slow stretch).  The dog was pushing 
me under.  I dove under my boat and positioned it between myself and the dog 
and continued to maneuver around my boat away from the dog (who was still 
trying to reach me) until I finally got to shore.  Not sure how I would 
have handled it had there been two of them 8-}  But it was not easy to 
keep away from one.  About a year later, I read about a swimmer who was 
drowned by his large dog that had panicked in the water and attempted to 
climb on top of his owner for safety.

btw, the dog attempting to climb on top of me was quite able to make it
to shore... just too stupid (panicked?) to know he could do it. 8-}  He
followed me and my boat in.

Jackie


***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not
to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************