first time triathlete drownns

ultraman1

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/31/first-time-triathlete-paul-gallihawk-found-dead-kent

I think there may of been thread/discussion on the perils of novice swimmers here before

JohnBee

Time for action?

There have been discussions many times on this topic. Even after 6 races I still get a bit of the heart racing during the swim.

No doubt a first timer with pool experience only who feels fit will have panic in a group.

How many times have people on here suggested some sort of swim competency certificate? Now that this has happened, perhaps time for action>

Oryx

This guy was supposed to have done a trial swim/ability check in that lake, and there was kayak support. Though reports say he was only wearing a shorty sleeveless wetsuit so would have lacked buoyancy in the event of a problem.

I have always felt that kayakers have little hope of spotting an issue in the middle of a washing machine start.

promethius

poor guy rip. hope there will be some lessons to be learned for race organisers in time.

iwillhtfu

Oryx wrote: »

This guy was supposed to have done a trial swim/ability check in that lake, and there was kayak support. Though reports say he was only wearing a shorty sleeveless wetsuit so would have lacked buoyancy in the event of a problem.

Participants in Saturday’s event – the fifth leg of a series run by the Ocean Lake Triathlon Club, which is based at Leybourne Lakes and in Canterbury – were not required to have completed an open-water swim assessment but any first-timers were asked to inform a race official.

Oryx wrote: »

I have always felt that kayakers have little hope of spotting an issue in the middle of a washing machine start.

Apparently they only noticed an athlete missing when they spotted a bike leftover in T1. Surely there should be a kayak following the last swimmer and any stragglers? A body wouldn't sink right away. would it?

Anyway a terrible tragedy regardless RIP from what I've read he sounded like one of the good ones.

EC1000

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Apparently they only noticed an athlete missing when they spotted a bike leftover in T1. Surely there should be a kayak following the last swimmer and any stragglers?

The slowest swimmer is often not the weakest. Also, nobody is immune to a kick to the head... not saying that is what happened here but very difficult to watch everyone, particularly in the initial melee

iwillhtfu

EC1000 wrote: »

The slowest swimmer is often not the weakest. Also, nobody is immune to a kick to the head... not saying that is what happened here but very difficult to watch everyone, particularly in the initial melee

I appreciate that and I'm not really getting at the rescue side of things I agree in the middle of a bunch start a rescue attempt would be difficult even more so if the victim is unconscious.

I was more getting at the nobody noticing someone in the water. I mean the kayakers are there solely for that purpose. I don't know the lake or the course but I can't imagine the racing line being that wide spread.

Oryx

It was reported somewhere that he had done a swim test in that lake (required or not). I heard this story when the poor guy was still missing. Its pretty much the worst case scenario, the type of thing you hope could never happen. Though every time I take part in a race (and with the ones Ive been on organising committees of) you watch all the identical swimmers go in and wonderhow the hell anyone is going to keep track of them. I have never heard of a swimmer being lost like this before. I hope for his families sake they discover how it happened.

DK man

I've only done about 10 tris and the swim would be my best of the 3 but I dread the kicks in the head and pushing that goes on. I don't mind the accidental stuff but sometimes I felt that some was deliberate

Maybe it's time that water safety is looked at and tightened up

Rip to this poor guy and condolences to his loved ones.

tunney

DK man wrote: »

I've only done about 10 tris and the swim would be my best of the 3 but I dread the kicks in the head and pushing that goes on. I don't mind the accidental stuff but sometimes I felt that some was deliberate

Maybe it's time that water safety is looked at and tightened up

Rip to this poor guy and condolences to his loved ones.

Water safety is fine. Being a little more strict on people "look you can't swim, your well out of shape - maybe a game of golf instead?"

iwillhtfu

DK man wrote: »

I've only done about 10 tris and the swim would be my best of the 3 but I dread the kicks in the head and pushing that goes on. I don't mind the accidental stuff but sometimes I felt that some was deliberate

Maybe it's time that water safety is looked at and tightened up

Rip to this poor guy and condolences to his loved ones.

Every swimmer has their place but the responsibility has to lie with each individual. If you can't take the rough and tumble then start further back.

If you plan on reverting to the breast stroke or any other stroke other than front crawl don't start in the front half. Those in the front half won't be doing the breast stroke and are willing to take and give the knocks.

I think a way of implementing water safety would be for organisers to bring in a requirement for proven swim times in previous races and allocate wave positions accordingly.

As Tunney says though if you can't cover the distance comfortably then train harder at the swim or take up duathlons/cycling

Penny Tration

My dad did and sister did their very first tris about two months ago in the UK. When my sister was up to get into the water, two ladies in her 'group' of swimmers had to be dragged out as they struggled, panicked and got into trouble in the water. Thankfully, they were dragged out in time.

Tragic incident. I hope the family find out exactly what happened, and get some closure. I get that it was the kayakers' job to keep watch, but as touched on already, I guess there's only so much they can see.

Poor man. RIP

DK man

No training can prepare for heals thrust hard into the nose or head or someone attempting to climb over you when there is a bunch of swimmers slowed up because in a jam

Stheno

Shocking poor man.

RIP

God love his family

BarryAlfaro

It is really important for pool swimmers to practice in open water before the race.Swimming in open water is not at all simple and can even prove to be fatal.

interested

Followed the story. Sad in every way. Especially the messages from his mates posted.

Cause to be determined obviously, but things like

a) Before taking on a tri with an ow swim, everyone must do a pool based tri (safer, more controlled environment?). Theres a good choice of them these days and people can try the sport before forking out for a wetsuit or putting themselves in harms way at an OW race. Hopefully the worst case scenario is they get a reality check in the pool and know the work they'll need to do (might only stop some )

b) portable defib available at race ( from a pool owned/serviced by TI ?) could save someones life

Might be considered / proposed strongly to TI at AGM by members.

Although b) may never come into play for some not making it out of the water, it could save someone. If you're holding a TI NS race then you have to 'rent' a defib for the weekend.

ciah

Very sad news. RIP.

Do not know the details in this case but hope lessons can be learned.

From my own experience lack of warm up, cold water shock and too fast a start pace can bring any swimmer to the brink of panic. Bigger issue than post start congestion IMO. In IM Dublin 70.3 was 800m into swim before I settled down. Swam breast stroke and side stroke to get heart rate down. Once warmed up could have kept going all day. Crossing a timing mat without swim warm up does not work for me. A mini warmup swim loop before coming in to cross timing mat would be my preference.

ciah

One event has already made a change.

"Due to recent unfortunate events in the
UK we have taken the decision, for safety
reasons, to make Tow Floats compulsory for
ALL competitors taking part in the Great
Fjord Swim. "

http://gaelforceevents.com/upload/content/download/GFS_-_MANDATORY_TOW-FLOAT.pdf

Can tow floats tangle up in a crowded swim?

iwillhtfu

It goes around your waist so I don't think there's a lanyard of sorts to tangle.

I'm not sure I agree with the compulsory part though surely those that have completed this event before will have registered times and as such some degree of awareness of the event they're entering into.

A positive step for weaker swimmers but I'd imagine some of the more experienced will be miffed.

Kurt_Godel

ciah wrote: »

One event has already made a change.

"Due to recent unfortunate events in the
UK we have taken the decision, for safety
reasons, to make Tow Floats compulsory for
ALL competitors taking part in the Great
Fjord Swim. "

http://gaelforceevents.com/upload/content/download/GFS_-_MANDATORY_TOW-FLOAT.pdf

Can tow floats tangle up in a crowded swim?

That is the most pointless and useless overreaction. Thankfully it could never come into Tri races as it would be a danger in mass starts. Nice way for organisers to cash in on spurious H&S grounds, I suppose. €15 for a floaty.

RIP to the swimmer but no-one knows what happened, could have been any number of issues unrelated to swim ability. On newbie ability though, OW swim certs showing the participant has undergone a 1 or 2 hour introductory OW swim under guidance of certified swim coach, thats the only way to go. No entry to first Tri unless produced.

RacoonQueen

ciah wrote: »

One event has already made a change.

"Due to recent unfortunate events in the
UK we have taken the decision, for safety
reasons, to make Tow Floats compulsory for
ALL competitors taking part in the Great
Fjord Swim. "

http://gaelforceevents.com/upload/content/download/GFS_-_MANDATORY_TOW-FLOAT.pdf

Can tow floats tangle up in a crowded swim?

I hope they're refunding people who do not wish to swim with a tow float.

Oryx

Are there many certified swim coaches familiar with ow? Who certifies ow swimming?

I agree it is an overreaction, and the money making aspect very much sticks out to me. Its the same thing as compulsory hiviz on motorcycles, it takes the responsibility away from where it should be (competent swimming) and places it somewhere else (lets make sure we see them drowning). Not utterly the wrong approach, but reaching too far, I think. Make sure your swimmers can swim, before you wrap them up in protective hiviz.

Kurt_Godel

Oryx wrote: »

Are there many certified swim coaches familiar with ow? Who certifies ow swimming?

I agree it is an overreaction, and the money making aspect very much sticks out to me. Its the same thing as compulsory hiviz on motorcycles, it takes the responsibility away from where it should be (competent swimming) and places it somewhere else (lets make sure we see them drowning). Not utterly the wrong approach, but reaching too far, I think. Make sure your swimmers can swim, before you wrap them up in protective hiviz.

Not sure if there is a specific Swim Ireland OW coach badge, but there are SI certified coaches who currently give OW classes. €20 spent in May for a 2 hour lesson in a group of 10, showing how to put on wetsuit, how to float on back in wetsuit, how to acclimatise in cold water, how to swim in a bunch, (and how to sight etc if any time left over) would be invaluable to both newbie swimmer and to race organisers as a whole. TI number taken beforehand and coach informs TI swimmer has completed course.

Oryx

A better visibility approach might be to stop making wetsuits mostly black in the first place. But this particular case the guy wasnt wearing a proper suit at all. I wonder if GF even considered that aspect of the tragedy.

RacoonQueen

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

Not sure if there is a specific Swim Ireland OW coach badge, but there are SI certified coaches who currently give OW classes. €20 spent in May for a 2 hour lesson in a group of 10, showing how to put on wetsuit, how to float on back in wetsuit, how to acclimatise in cold water, how to swim in a bunch, (and how to sight etc if any time left over) would be invaluable to both newbie swimmer and to race organisers as a whole. TI number taken beforehand and coach informs TI swimmer has completed course.

What about one day license participants?

sconhome

Oryx wrote: »

A better visibility approach might be to stop making wetsuits mostly black in the first place. But this particular case the guy wasnt wearing a proper suit at all. I wonder if GF even considered that aspect of the tragedy.

Problem is it is difficult to get the hi vis colour as a coated neoprene. Often see the colour panels breaking down much faster that the standard black = unhappy triathletes.

A tragic accident.

tunney

Oryx wrote: »

A better visibility approach might be to stop making wetsuits mostly black in the first place. But this particular case the guy wasnt wearing a proper suit at all. I wonder if GF even considered that aspect of the tragedy.

The "proper" safety measures include divers below pinch points in the course. Albeit its scary seeing them below you but its nice when you know that they are there.

Cost though.

griffin100

As far as I know the cause of death has not been given for this unfortunate chap. He could have drowned due to lack of experience, he could have been kicked unconscious, or he could have decided that he was going to swim away on his own. My main concern would relate to the fact that it took from Saturday to Monday morning to find his body and he wasn't noticed by any of the safety boats or another competitor either floating unconscious or in trouble in the water over what was a 750m lake course.

The Killary Swim thing is a load of b@llix and smacks of ass covering due to not enough safety cover to me. I hope this doesn't set a precedent for other swims - I don't want to see this sport go down the tri route of cancelling tough swims if you don't have a set of armbands on. From their website: 'Our team also noted that they were much more comfortable training alone in open water with them.' I'm sorry, if your team members aren't comfortable training alone then they shouldn't be doing so float or no float. In fact in my opinion this adds risks to swim events; poor swimmers will now turn up for events that they shouldn't really be doing confident that if they get into trouble their wetsuit will save them, and failing that they can rest on their float.

Funnily enough LoneSwimmer covered these sorts of devices in his latest post - http://loneswimmer.com/2015/09/02/review-chill-swim-safety-tow-floats-and-inflatable-dry-bags/ His comments on OW swimmers depending on these sorts of devices are interesting.

promethius

ciah wrote: »

One event has already made a change.

"Due to recent unfortunate events in the
UK we have taken the decision, for safety
reasons, to make Tow Floats compulsory for
ALL competitors taking part in the Great
Fjord Swim. "

http://gaelforceevents.com/upload/content/download/GFS_-_MANDATORY_TOW-FLOAT.pdf

Can tow floats tangle up in a crowded swim?

That's an absolute joke, how are they doing this in relation to recent events in the UK when it's not even been established how the guy sadly drowned.

Would a float have saved him? No one knows and it's possible may never know. Where does this all go? Is the logical conclusion to swim with arm bands, cycle with stabilisers and run in one of those inflatable zorb things they use for football on stag weekends? All of these would make sport safer.

I'm annoyed as i planned to do that swim but wouldn't have any interest in towing a buoy behind me when i'm racing.

Put on adequate safety and don't need to be resorting to rubbish like this.

iwillhtfu

It's not exactly an anchor you're dragging behind you to be fair. Other than the cost of it and the fact that's it's mandatory I wouldn't have an issue with it.

I wouldn't say it's any more noticeable than a race belt.

Fair enough in a tri environment it'd be a load of arse but for this event purely a swim I don't see the issue everyone has to wear one so it's not as if someone else is gaining an advantage.

As for the cause of death of the mentioned triathlete I wouldn't rule out a heart attack or similar.

rooneyjm

Smaller but more waves to ease congestion. Would also help with our old pal "drafting".

strewelpeter

Oryx wrote: »

A better visibility approach might be to stop making wetsuits mostly black in the first place.

Thats a very good idea, even if its not straightforward there must be a way to allow better visibility.

rooneyjm wrote: »

Smaller but more waves to ease congestion. Would also help with our old pal "drafting".

Swimming through a start gate to kick off chip timing could greatly reduce the frenzy at the start when most of the serious kicks to the head happen.

ShineyShiney

My sympathies to his family and also a thought for the race organisers. This is every race organisers nightmare.

No cause has yet been determined and anyone taking any actions based on this unfortunate event is foolish in the extreme until the facts are established.

I will not be doing Fjord swim now as its a ridiculous idea with no real consideration to increased participant safety just the perception of increased safety.

The addition of extra water safety and a team of divers would genuinely increase safety this is just daft.

When was the last drowning in Ireland in a sanctioned Ti or swim Ireland event that had the proper permits from councils and water safety officer?

tunney

strewelpeter wrote: »

Thats a very good idea, even if its not straightforward there must be a way to allow better visibility.

Swimming through a start gate to kick off chip timing could greatly reduce the frenzy at the start when most of the serious kicks to the head happen.

How would the start gate start in a race?
In a time trial I can see but in a race it would not be feasible.

JohnBee

Triathlon has moved from a niche sport for the super fit, towards a mass event, tackled by the 10k fun run population who want to tell their friends down the pub how great they are.

To me Toe floats are a ridiculous suggestion, it is basically the organizer stating out loud: "we recognize that many entrants of our race should not be competing, are not fit enough and safe enough to complete the race, and therefore we want to make it easier for our Kayakers to pull you out".

This is ridiculous. Yes increased participation makes events more fun, makes more money. But this avoids the issue.

There is only one solution: proof of competency, anything else is not good enough. Surely this is an opportunity for governing bodies: Have swim competency days, staggered open water swims, 750m, not cycle run, reducing stress, more Kayaks, and charge for it. For those with previous races, evidence of swim time.

Also, an in water rescue in the absence of being kicked in the head/trauma should garner a ban.

WattsUp

I think the idea of a rolling start over a timing mat like Dublin 70.3 would be a help to reduce congestion. Less confident swimmers would be more likely to heed advice and start towards the back if they know they were not starting off with a time disadvantage.
I know it's only 5-10 seconds delay to wait for the serious swimmers to go but but people with competitive instincts, without swim skills to back them up, often go to the front because they don't want to give anyone a headstart.

I would say an initial mass start would be still required for anyone who wanted to contend for overall honours in a race.

Ideally good cover on the water will mean anyone in trouble will be spotted as it happens. However counting in accurately, counting out accurately and acting on any discrepancy is very important as it could buy a few more minutes to search for a swimmer. Waiting to see if there are any bikes left in T1 and then trying to figure if someone actually entered the water or racked the bike but did race just takes too long to initiate any actions.

rooneyjm

20rothmans wrote: »

I think the idea of a rolling start over a timing mat like Dublin 70.3 would be a help to reduce congestion. Less confident swimmers would be more likely to heed advice and start towards the back if they know they were not starting off with a time disadvantage.
I know it's only 5-10 seconds delay to wait for the serious swimmers to go but but people with competitive instincts, without swim skills to back them up, often go to the front because they don't want to give anyone a headstart.

If you pander to peoples stupidity too much then your in danger of diluting the sport. It like they say in boxing "protect yourself at all times", if you go to the front in a swim start (and im not saying that chat did that) and cant swim then expect to be dunked. If you swim up on top of someones legs expect a kick. If you don't feel comfortable with any of that stay to the back or side.

I've been counted into loads of races, Athy, 2Prov, DCT, but you cant legislate for someone jumping out at the bank somewhere and messing up your counting. Then your looking for someone who's not lost, very difficult.

strewelpeter

tunney wrote: »

How would the start gate start in a race?
In a time trial I can see but in a race it would not be feasible.

Sure but what percentage are in a race?

There would certainly be allsorts of problems if there was a gate kicking off chip times and a mass start for those who are in a race :eek:

tunney

strewelpeter wrote: »

Sure but what percentage are in a race?

There would certainly be allsorts of problems if there was a gate kicking off chip times and a mass start for those who are in a race :eek:

the people who think that they aren't in a race are the exact type of people who should be encouraged to play golf instead.

sconhome

strewelpeter wrote: »

Thats a very good idea, even if its not straightforward there must be a way to allow better visibility.

Swimming through a start gate to kick off chip timing could greatly reduce the frenzy at the start when most of the serious kicks to the head happen.

There is but not one that triathletes are happy with.

Check out the Openwater suit from Orca.

Uncoated neoprene in the arms and shoulders is not as free from drag as a fully coated suit.

tunney

These buoys and other things being suggest are not flotation nor life saving devices. They merely simplify the retrieval of corpses.

strewelpeter

tunney wrote: »

the people who think that they aren't in a race are the exact type of people who should be encouraged to play golf instead.

Really? So anyone who doesn't start in the first wave of an event or is only competing against themselves should be playing golf instead... nice attitude.
It wouldn't be appropriate to this thread to call you out on this position but maybe I'll put together a thread when I have time.

iwillhtfu

strewelpeter wrote: »

Really? So anyone who doesn't start in the first wave of an event or is only competing against themselves should be playing golf instead... nice attitude.
It wouldn't be appropriate to this thread to call you out on this position but maybe I'll put together a thread when I have time.

I'd have considered this a race. At least it's the only race I have a chance of ever winning.

Maybe I should dust off the clubs

Kurt_Godel

The more you read about this the more you see it for the tragedy it is. The poor chap who died seemed like a nice guy all round. The organisers of the Triathlon series seemed very pro-active about water safety and now they have to deal with the fall-out.

(Without casting aspersions on this poor guy) there are participants who should not be allowed enter Tri's in Ireland. I've watched races where a backmarker grabs hold of a safety kayak after 50m of the swim start to have a breather- that safety kayak is now out of action for everyone else. Its unfair on organisers that their safety plans are thrown askew for the sake of inclusiveness. Plenty of people get upset that their "rights" are being denied them, without any sense of responsibility on their part. Your right to enter a Tri race as a poor swimmer should be lessened by your likely impact on that races' water safety plan.

tunney

strewelpeter wrote: »

Really? So anyone who doesn't start in the first wave of an event or is only competing against themselves should be playing golf instead... nice attitude.
It wouldn't be appropriate to this thread to call you out on this position but maybe I'll put together a thread when I have time.

Please do. Its a race. If you are not racing then whats the point.

tunney

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

The more you read about this the more you see it for the tragedy it is. The poor chap who died seemed like a nice guy all round. The organisers of the Triathlon series seemed very pro-active about water safety and now they have to deal with the fall-out.

(Without casting aspersions on this poor guy) there are participants who should not be allowed enter Tri's in Ireland. I've watched races where a backmarker grabs hold of a safety kayak after 50m of the swim start to have a breather- that safety kayak is now out of action for everyone else. Its unfair on organisers that their safety plans are thrown askew for the sake of inclusiveness. Plenty of people get upset that their "rights" are being denied them, without any sense of responsibility on their part. Your right to enter a Tri race as a poor swimmer should be lessened by your likely impact on that races' water safety plan.

I heard a perspective on Dublin 70.30 that I'd not heard before. It was from one of the rescue kayakers. I thought I understood how bad some of the swimmers would be and how much danger they put themselves in. Apparently it was much much worse than that.

Oryx

tunney wrote: »

I heard a perspective on Dublin 70.30 that I'd not heard before. It was from one of the rescue kayakers. I thought I understood how bad some of the swimmers would be and how much danger they put themselves in. Apparently it was much much worse than that.

That makes me sad and scared for the sport. If weak swimmers are allowed to swim, there will be a dumbing down of the swim section and the kind of fluorescent bouy nonsense mentioned in this thread.

joey100

As someone who used to do kayak rescue at a few of the sea swims I don't think them floats/buoys are going to help rescuers. To be honest I'm not sure someone in a kayak would notice if someone was in trouble unless it was very obvious, lots of trashing around and screaming, which isn't usually what happens when someone is in real serious difficulty. The kayaks are more like sheep dogs, trying to keep the group together or if someone swims over to one for a break. They make people feel safe but in a big mass start I'm not sure how much safety they actually provide.

Kurt_Godel

Seems there were underlying issues with this man- "a postmortem examination had given the cause of death as immersion, with epilepsy being a contributing factor."

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/inquest-into-triathletes-death-to-42691/

Grassey

20rothmans wrote: »

Ideally good cover on the water will mean anyone in trouble will be spotted as it happens.

As someone who has done a lot of kayak rescue over the years for various swims I'd like to point out that it is not as easy to spot problems as you'd think.

In a mass start all you see is hundreds of stroking arms, trying to pick a single person out of that who is in trouble is next to impossible. Once everybody spreads out its a bit easier. The kayaks are only effective to get to a visible swimmer in distress (thrashing, shouting, hand up etc) to give them a large float to hold onto until either they swim on or the rib can maneuver into them. If someone was floating face down sure the kayaker could get to them once spotted and support them above water until rib arrives, but if anyone goes underwater the kayaker is useless as they can only reach about a hand depth underwater before they tip themselves under.

A number of kayak support on these events are under prepared also(not suggesting it in this instance), most are recreational kayaks helping out on request to an event in the local area, some won't have first aid knowledge and some have the wrong equipment to be effective in getting to distressed swimmers rapidly. At worst they can be a placebo and a large number can give the impression of an effective safety plan.

sconhome

As was suggested to me if someone has a heart attack in the water there is nothing to alert safety crews of what is happening. Someone panicing will be easy to spot cos they will panic and thrash about. Someone actually drowning is very hard to spot and even harder to spot from the perspective of a kayak.

I've shared this before http://www.rd.com/advice/parenting/8-quiet-signs-of-someone-drowning/

1. They can’t call for help—she has to be able to breathe before she can speak. When a person is drowning, her mouth sinks below and reappears above the surface of the water. There isn’t time for her to exhale, inhale, and call out.

2. They can’t wave for help either. A drowning person instinctively extends her arms to the sides and presses down to lift her mouth out of the water; a child may extend her arms forward. She can’t use her arms to move toward a rescuer or reach for rescue equipment.

3. They remain upright in the water, with no evidence of kicking. She can struggle for only 20 to 60 seconds before going under.

4. Their eyes are glassy, unable to focus, or closed.

5. Their face may be hard to see; hair may be over forehead or eyes.

6. Their Head is low in the water, with mouth at water level; head may be tilted back with mouth open. A child’s head may fall forward.

7. They are quiet. Children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you need to get to them and find out why.

8. They don’t seem in distress. Sometimes the most important indicator that someone is drowning is that she doesn’t look like she’s drowning. She may just seem to be looking up at the sky, shore, pool deck, or dock. Ask her, “Are you all right?” If she can answer at all, she probably is. If she returns a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to her.

It is from the perspective of minding children but the rules of drowning apply across the board.

As mentioned previously the safety buoys are not going to save you, they are not a floatation device. If you swim alone or in a small group they will keep your gear dray and make you visible to other water users. In a big event they will make it easier to find you and may stop your body from drifting away.