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

My, my, but there have been lots of opinions expressed since I last looked
at the digests.  Ralph you have my thanks for posing such an interesting and
thought provoking scenario.

I also note that I have not seen any comments along the lines of: "give them
a Darwin Award", or "this is just nature's way of cleaning out the gene
pool" or "shoot them and put them out of their misery."  All of which might
be considered "politically correct" in some circles.

It has been over 30 years since I last had swim rescue training, however, my
recollection is that we were taught pretty much what I have been taught in
the First Responder courses.  The first rule is don't put yourself in
danger.  Yes, I know we all are likely to take more risks than a Monday
Morning Quarterback would agree with, but that's life.  What we were taught
back in the middle ages was to stay out of reach of panicked victims.
Period.  Reach, throw, row(paddle), go(swim) was the hierarchy.  

In Ralph's situation I would first paddle in toward the victims and try to
talk to them to assess their condition and to calm them down.  Rescue
options could be deploying a tow line and sweeping it past the victims so
they could grab it for a tow to shore.  Or as an alternative, take Ralph's
option and present a bow to them, after warning them that if they did not do
as they were told I would leave them in the water.  Once they were holding
onto my bow I would try to paddle backwards to shore.

I have never had to rescue a panicked victim.  However, as part of the Boy
Scout training, way back when, we did have water safety instructors do their
best to act like panicked victims who did not care if they took their
rescuer down with them. The experience convinced me that I should not try to
hand rescue a panicked victim.

On the negative side, I would not exit my boat and push it to the victims.
And I would not toss my PFD to them.

Freedom of speech is not license of speech.  If I advocate a position you
consider unwise, foolish or even idiotic, feel free to say so.  However,
chose a tone that you want me to use when I reply to your constructive
criticism. :-)

Dana

 
***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************