Treading water is a swimming safety skill that is very important when swimming. The reason being that is all very well swimming happily along until you need to stop swimming and stay in one position. It is all about simply staying in one position, like hovering. You’re probably thinking why I need to know how to tread water. If you fell into some water and needed to be rescued in the sea you would need to tread water and stay in one place. So as you can see it is an important skill to learn and is quite easy even if you are beginner to swimming as long as you make yourself safe and don’t put yourself into a situation where you can get yourself into difficulty. Remember to expel no more effort than required so not to get tired and sink.

Another important thing to know is how to get out of rip currents. This lifesaving technique is not known by many, and could’ve saved hundreds of thousands of lives. It is important to remember that rip currents do not pull people under water – they pull people away from shore. Drowning deaths usually occur when people are unable to keep themselves afloat and swim back to shore. This may be due to fear, panic, exhaustion, a lack of swimming skills, or any combination of these factors.

If you get caught in a rip current – remain calm, and try to float or tread water. Don’t swim against the current, as this is difficult for even experienced swimmers. Swim along the shoreline until you feel the current relax, or let the current carry you