Almost died yesterday, came very very close...

[lapince]

Originally Posted by Rich Mickol

Wow, what a story. Been around the shore all my life, far too many people die every year in rip currents.

I'm so glad yours has a happy ending.

Thanks man, I know too many die, I just know what to do when that happens, but when you have a terrified 8 year old holding your neck nothing much you can do, it would not have been my son in this situation, I was making him stop grabbing me, one way or another, but it was my son...

[bayerische]

Which beach was this? Most beaches in Phuket has very calm tides/currents.

Glad you all are ok!

[Rolex addict]

Wow!!! Very scary. I'm one of the better swimmers in Ironman and know how hard it is with 3000 people in a mass start swimming over and kicking each other. I can't imagine trying to swim with someone grabbing on to your neck and panicking. Glad you're here to tell your story.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by hugs

This thread seems to have turned into a competition for near death experiences I think we are missing the point that it's about arnaud and his son. Very harrowing to read but glad you are both well. At least now you have a good example for future when he won't listen!!!

Ps which watch were you wearing at the time?

I have no problem with others telling their stories, on the contrary, makes you feel not alone
Oh yeah next time he will have a sore butt but today he was very very careful, he went in the water but only to the belly button, I told him he could go a little deeper but he didn't want, he was really panicked yesterday, I didn't panick, stayed calm but really thought at one point that the end is near when I was too much out of oxygen...
No watch, I decided to not take any watch this time, last time after a few drinks, being a Harley rider for 25 years, I decided to drive cross style with the 125cm3, which ended in me scratching my BLNR bracelet, so decided this time to go naked watch wise this time

Originally Posted by Rolex addict

Wow!!! Very scary. I'm one of the better swimmers in Ironman and know how hard it is with 3000 people in a mass start swimming over and kicking each other. I can't imagine trying to swim with someone grabbing on to your neck and panicking. Glad you're here to tell your story.

Well basically you can't swim or even do anything, just to come up'for air I had to forcefully detach his arms from my neck, take half a breath until the next wave, holding his arm to not loose him, and after each wave again he was on my neck, I was totally paralyzed by him, couldn't do anything, 2-3 more minutes and we, I especially, was done for, God I was happy to see the life guard send his floating device, and finally put my son on it, from there I finally was able to breath normally, made it half way to the beach by myself, but was exhausted and out of breath, was really happy to see another life guard who was standing in the water give me his hand, which I grabbed thankfully, another came and they halped me walk back to the beach, would have been able to do it on my own, but the hel 'was welcomed, once I got on the beach I fell on my back and lied there for a good 3-5 minutes trying to normalize my breath. It's really the scariest thing, and by far, which happened to me, and had a few quite scary but which were quick and ended mostly well

[Jimmy3993]

That is a truly terrifying story. I am at a beach in Mexico right now and while there is no surf this post seems quite timely.
Very glad to hear that you and yours are safe.

[GerardoG]

Happy to have you posting here. I agree, the ocean can always be tricky. Play it safe!!!!

[KarlS]

Arnaud was later seen........


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[lapince]

Originally Posted by Jimmy3993

That is a truly terrifying story. I am at a beach in Mexico right now and while there is no surf this post seems quite timely.
Very glad to hear that you and yours are safe.

Thanks, be careful, sometimes there aren't big waves but the current can be very strong, the thing is not to swim against it, swim parallel to the coast line to get out of the current, not sure in what part of Mexico but I know'they have some places with strong current

Originally Posted by GerardoG

Happy to have you posting here. I agree, the ocean can always be tricky. Play it safe!!!!

Not'even tricky, deadly

Originally Posted by KarlS

Arnaud was later seen........


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hahahahaha, excellent my friend, my wife and I just laughed our heads off seeing this

[Dr.Brian]

I used to be an ocean lifeguard a lifetime ago. The panicking victim is a dangerous thing for sure. Sometimes you just have to wait for them to be too exhausted to keep fighting and/or hope they can stabilize themselves with the rescue buoy and settle down. There's a reason it has a 6 foot+ toe line. That was something we practiced regularly.
I'm glad you all made it out OK!

[Watchflair]

Jesus - hell of a story to start the day. I am glad that both you and your son are okay. The ocean is such a powerful force -

[GB-man]

I thought for sure this was a bumped thread about your phneumonia scare.

What a crazy year for you arnaud. Glad you're both safe and frankly impressed your son was back swimming the next day!

[Alexwwjd]

Glad you are fine sir!


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[Jocke]

Damn you are like a cat so be cool only 7 lives left.

Great you and your son are safe.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by Dr.Brian

I used to be an ocean lifeguard a lifetime ago. The panicking victim is a dangerous thing for sure. Sometimes you just have to wait for them to be too exhausted to keep fighting and/or hope they can stabilize themselves with the rescue buoy and settle down. There's a reason it has a 6 foot+ toe line. That was something we practiced regularly.
I'm glad you all made it out OK!

I can guarantee you it is deadly when you have someone panicking, and he is only around 30 kilos and 8 years old, I can imagine an adult, but at the same time I had to hold him, maybe without me to hold on to he would have drowned, but if it had been an adult I would have done something to get me clear of him, without the lifeguards who finally took him on the buoy, honesty I don't think I would have lasted much longer, between the waves and him I almost couldn't breathe, horrible sensation...

Originally Posted by Watchflair

Jesus - hell of a story to start the day. I am glad that both you and your son are okay. The ocean is such a powerful force -

Thanks. I knew it was powerful, I was in a few difficult situations where the rip tide took me far away, but I came back slowly, rested on my back, and swam again, but in this case I was just being drowned by the waves and my son

Originally Posted by GB-man

I thought for sure this was a bumped thread about your phneumonia scare.

What a crazy year for you arnaud. Glad you're both safe and frankly impressed your son was back swimming the next day!

Thanks buddy, nope not the pneumonia, must say it's been a hell of a year, and I didn't even tell you guys about the attack at 4am on the 7th of January, was attacked in front of my home door, guess I was making the code to get in, woke up 3 hours later, don't remember a thing, broken nose, head like a pumpkin, head concussion (in french commotion) for one month my head was turning like crazy after 5 minutes standing, doctor said I was lucky my skull didn't crack. What's amazing is that in 7 months I had these 3 things, but the last thing which could be remotely related to such events was at least 15 years ago, but'like we say in France never 2 without 3, I knew there would be a third one after the attack and pneumonia, and was right...

Well he was swimming, but he really didn't take any chances, Inotld him a little further was ok, he said no it's ok, you go

Originally Posted by Alexwwjd

Glad you are fine sir!


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Thanks

Originally Posted by Jocke

Damn you are like a cat so be cool only 7 lives left.

Great you and your son are safe.

Wow if I am a cat I must be a super cat, survived suffocation by fire, I was young, was drunk and smoking in bed, almost didn't realize there was smoke all over the room, was sleeping and something told me to wake up, I did, put the light you couldn't see 3 feet away, the matress was slowly disintegrating, but no apparent flames, and many other things, if I start to tell all you guys will have a read until Xmas, will have a new one every day, what is clear is that While not being totally nuts I am not very afraid by danger, and I clearly have a gardian angel, the only real bad thing which happened to me was when my tibia on the knee level hit a car at 70mph, and exploded into 9 pieces, but I was a passenger on a bike, last time ever since then have I been passenger on a motorbike, that was the only really tough thing, until the ngs this year...

[Thatguy]

Glad it had a happy ending and everyone is safe.
I am a scuba divemaster and have had to deal with panicked divers and it is very scary and dangerous being near one. I can't imagine being in those conditions with a family member involved!


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[TheRolexKingofLV]

Very scary indeed. Glad to hear you are both ok Arnaud.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by Thatguy

Glad it had a happy ending and everyone is safe.
I am a scuba divemaster and have had to deal with panicked divers and it is very scary and dangerous being near one. I can't imagine being in those conditions with a family member involved!


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Had it not been my son I would have pushed him away, or even punched him as he was clearly making me drown, but it's your kid, what are you gonna do, tell your wife and relatives "it was him or me", of course not, so you do what you can for him to not get taken away and try to get a small bit of oxygen between the waves and his drowning you...

Originally Posted by TheRolexKingofLV

Very scary indeed. Glad to hear you are both ok Arnaud.

Thanks

[SearChart]

I'm glad you are both ok, that must have been very scary!

[mjclark32]

Man, that's scary for you and your boy!
Glad you guys made it out OK

[Tri-Tip]

Wow, scary. Glad to hear that you and your son are both OK.

[mph57]

Just a thought...From my lifeguard classes, I was taught to never approach a distressed swimmer "head on" as their natural reaction is always to grab and hold the approaching person...hence the potential to drown the both of you. We were taught to approach a distressed swimmer from behind and grab underneath the armpits and swim so they begin to float on their back. It was recommend to only approach a distressed swimmer "head on" if you have some type of flotation device to place between yourself and the swimmer that he/she can latch onto instead of you. Without some type of flotation device to take with you, it's a dicey situation, even with a child let alone a full grown adult!

[lapince]

Originally Posted by SearChart

I'm glad you are both ok, that must have been very scary!

Thanks buddy, yeah it was really scary

Originally Posted by mjclark32

Man, that's scary for you and your boy!
Glad you guys made it out OK

Thanks

Originally Posted by Tri-Tip

Wow, scary. Glad to hear that you and your son are both OK.

Thanks

Originally Posted by mph57

Just a thought...From my lifeguard classes, I was taught to never approach a distressed swimmer "head on" as their natural reaction is always to grab and hold the approaching person...hence the potential to drown the both of you. We were taught to approach a distressed swimmer from behind and grab underneath the armpits and swim so they begin to float on their back. It was recommend to only approach a distressed swimmer "head on" if you have some type of flotation device to place between yourself and the swimmer that he/she can latch onto instead of you. Without some type of flotation device to take with you, it's a dicey situation, even with a child let alone a full grown adult!

I know, but with the waves pulling us away I was afraid to loose him, not sure he would have stayed alive very long as he is only 8 and clearly not a good swimmer, he knows how to stay above water, but the waves and rip tide were nasty , and I did try to get him from behind when I first grabbed him, but with the waves and him panicking he turned around and grabbed my neck, the worse was being under the water, having with both arms to detach his arms from my neck and go back up for air, but having done that a new wave was coming, we were being rolled around, and everytime he grabbed my neck, maybe that happened a little more than 20 times, maybe 30, but itmseemed an eternity I didn't almost drown because of the physical effort to swim or anything like that, becquse of the zpwaves and him I couldn't do anything just try to keep him afloat and go up occasionally for air, but just couldn't breathe enough, it'took me a good'5 minutes lying on the beach to finally breathe normally. Butmyou are right, it's not the sea which almost killed me, it was my son, okmand the sea did its job, but mostly my son

[ELITEVIDEOGAMES]

I have experienced rip tide before. I had to have 2 lifeguards come pull me out at Fire Island 2 years ago. Never in my life did I have fear like that. I thought i was going to drown for sure. Glad you are ok. I have never looked at the ocean the same way since.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by ELITEVIDEOGAMES

I have experienced rip tide before. I had to have 2 lifeguards come pull me out at Fire Island 2 years ago. Never in my life did I have fear like that. I thought i was going to drown for sure. Glad you are ok. I have never looked at the ocean the same way since.

Thanks and yes I will have a very different look at the ocean from now on, especially if I am with my son... And yes I concur that never did I experience such fear, I managed to stay calm, but after a few minutes in my head I really thought we were going to die...

[joli160]

Wow Arnaud, really shocking experience that must have been. You wrote it down in a very catching way. It could have easily ended up all bad. I am very glad you two made it. Surely you have something to celebrate now, I'll have one on you

[Mr Kram]

glad you and your family are safe.

[BNA/LION]

Wow! That is very scary. I am glad to hear you and your Son are alright.

[Hollister]

Very scary story. For some reason, drowning is the death I fear the most.

I avoid beaches as I don't like sand or sunbathing, and apart from paddling in the shallows, there's not much that can be done on a beach which can't be achieved in a beer garden.

[lapince]

Originally Posted by joli160

Wow Arnaud, really shocking experience that must have been. You wrote it down in a very catching way. It could have easily ended up all bad. I am very glad you two made it. Surely you have something to celebrate now, I'll have one on you

Thanks, and yes it was really shocking as ainthought after a few minutes that not only I but my son were going to drown, with out the lifeguards appearing, or had they appeared 3-4 minutes later we would be gone, almost sure of that

Originally Posted by Mr Kram

glad you and your family are safe.

Thanks

Originally Posted by BNALION

Wow! That is very scary. I am glad to hear you and your Son are alright.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Hollister

Very scary story. For some reason, drowning is the death I fear the most.

I avoid beaches as I don't like sand or sunbathing, and apart from paddling in the shallows, there's not much that can be done on a beach which can't be achieved in a beer garden.

Drowning is also the death I fear most, and I can assure you itmis really a scary death, even if I didn't go all the way, you are not in your element, outside forces, rip tide, waves and my son in this case, make you unable to get air, you are quickly exhausted, it is horrible.
This won't stop memfrom swimming in the ocean again, but will be more careful, and especially very strict limits will be imposed on my son from now on, but after yesterday he understood that if dad or mom says to come closer to the beach it's no joke, whennImcould seemhis face he was so freakin panicked that he'll remember that day for the rest of his life, so will I for that matter

[AK797]

Bloody hell Arnaud, you scared the crap out of me... again! I come on this forum to relax and chill, don't do that again! Stay safe, my friend.

My near death experience was when I was 16 in a foreign country and lost at night and running to get home while in the middle of such a deluge of rain that the streets were running with water, and then I jumped over a fence and landed not on pavement but in a river. I just managed to turn back and grab the edge and pulled myself out, but I could easily have drowned that night. Never panic and never rush.