Panicking OW Student On Surface

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Couple observations:

1. A long time ago I was a WSI and helped train life guards. This was for life guarding in a lake and not a pool. This was before the nice floats life guards use now. We trained to go out and if need be to bring them back in. There was. a lot involved including under water approach, carrying so they could not get on top of you, etc etc. One mantra was if they are on the top of the water they may be panicking but they are not drowning. Anyway, years later I went through stress and rescue. It was a good class with good points but, I at least the one I took, was more about avoiding problems, then carrying out a rescue. Training was below that of a good lifeguard.

2. Earlier post criticized a buddy for separation. I think that was possibly unfair since we do not know the situation. I saw a large class with several instructors do a shore entry in California. This on a day where several DM and instructors had canceled their dives. Anyway, the class waited for a lull land then charged into the surf zone and were soon hit by a very large wave. Eventually some appeared out past the waves, some staggered back out, and some had to be drug from the surf quite a ways down the beach by bystanders. There was massive buddy and instructor separation. In this situation you can fault the instructor but not the student who lost their buddy.
 

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