I almost drowned as a kid - in shallow water, and with a swim ring around my waist. I'll explain situation here as a cautionary tale for parents.

That swim ring was a bit loose. I was standing in the water, probably jumping up and down like kids do. Somehow, I lost balance and as my upper body fell to the side the swim ring moved from my waist toward feet. It stayed there and pulled my feet upward while my head went below the water. I was powerless to return to the surface as feet were stuck in that floating ring, forcing me upside down. Fortunately, a family friend noticed the situation and pulled me from the water. Near-death situation, and it looked perfectly safe.

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cogman10 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

A wave pool almost got me (those should be banned).

A wave took me underwater and there were too many people in the pool for me to easily get back up. I don't fully remember how I got out of it, only that I was pushed underwater (I think I managed to get to the shallower end)

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xnx 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

> A wave pool almost got me (those should be banned).

9-year old just died last Thursday at wave pool in Pennsylvania: https://archive.ph/vlSad

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Loughla 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wave pools fucking terrify me. How can the lifeguards even see if someone is struggling? There's always shit tons of people flailing around and yelling. They genuinely give me anxiety.

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bglazer 5 days ago | parent [-]

http://spotthedrowningchild.com/

You should try this. I was a lifeguard for several years, and I think the key is that there are almost always signs a person can’t actually swim. They cling to a flotation device, they stand up to their tip toes in shallow water, they seem visibly uneasy in the deep. They’re the ones who are going to get in trouble, it’s comparatively quite rare for a strong swimmer to suddenly start drowning.

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YeGoblynQueenne 5 days ago | parent [-]

I didn't know what a wave pool is (I've never been to a water park) but they do seem like an awful idea . Wikipedia says they can be hard to lifeguard:

Safety

Wave pools are more difficult to lifeguard than still pools as the moving water (sometimes combined with sun glare) make it difficult to watch all swimmers. Unlike passive pool safety camera systems, computer-automated drowning detection systems do not work in wave pools.[11] There are also safety concerns in regards to water quality, as wave pools are difficult to chlorinate.

In the 1980s, three people died in the original 8-foot-deep (2.4 m) Tidal Wave pool at New Jersey's Action Park, which also kept the lifeguards busy rescuing patrons who overestimated their swimming ability. On the wave pool's opening day, it is said up to 100 people had to be rescued.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_pool#Safety

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EE84M3i 5 days ago | parent [-]

It's strange that note about chlorination doesn't have a reference. I wonder what makes wave pools difficult to chlorinate?

	▲	cogman10 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Chlorine naturally evaporates. Wave pools by their nature agitate the water which increases the rate of evaporation.

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michaelsshaw 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The same thing happened to me, I nearly drowned when I performed poorly on a single wave, and the repeating nature of them kept me under the water for so long I thought I was going to die. I went up to the nearest lifeguard, about 10 feet laterally and 20 feet above the pool, and went "what the fuck?" They were confused. Probably will never go in one again.

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riffraff 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My son had a "near drown experience" at ~2yo with a swim ring in a pool.

He somehow jumped from the side and "capsized" ending up with his head underwater, so the ring kept him in that position.

I was playing with my daughter facing the other direction and didn't notice until she pointed him out, I fished him out and he had somehow kept his breath (it was some seconds, not minutes) and kept playing as if nothing happened soon after.

I was scared shitless.

	▲	kannanvijayan 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		I've been paranoid about my kid around water when he was younger, mostly because this was advice given by my father to me when I was an adolescent, in some context where I was going to be partially responsible for children: Little kids can drown in as little as 2 inches of water. They can drown a bathtub that's mostly empty.

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dreamcompiler 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm a good swimmer and the only time I've ever been scared in the water was when I was using one of those damn pool noodles. These colorful toys just love to turn you upside down in the water. They're dangerous as hell.

	▲	watwut 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		If you are a good swimmer, being upside down is not dangerous. You let the noodle go and swim normally.