Man's body retrieved from harbor after he jumped off North Washington Street bridge

And practice in a pool if you can. It's kinda fun.

The only reason I didn't mention this is that if you don't know how to do this before you find yourself in trouble, it isn't much help. The video does not show how to add air to the pants while still around your neck and I think that would be a useful addition. (Basically, you are scooping the air in front of you underwater and up through the pant waistline. Wet pants aren't totally airtight, after all.)

though it appears the requirement that had Scouts jump in fully dressed, remove all those extra clothes and turn your pants into a flotation device and reinflate it while in the water has been removed from that merit badge. It would have been my first year at summer camp as a Boy Scout and I can still remember that specific requirement.

Swimming MB still includes rescue by reaching or throwing, but not going into the water, that comes in Lifesaving MB. Now that is a tough one. Removal of street clothes within 20 seconds to enter the water and reach a conscious "victim" 30 feet from shore was always a tough one but the non-equipment rescues of both conscious and unconscious "victims" have always been the hardest parts. Especially when that "victim" starts to "panic" as one does when they are drowning and they grab onto you and start taking you under.

Anyways, I'd strongly suggest that anyone without the proper training not enter the water to rescue a drowning victim, it's dangerous enough if you've been properly trained. If there's something you can reach with or throw to the victim, do that, otherwise call 911 and keep a watchful eye on the exact location of the victim. Oh, that reminds me of one of the other challenging skills, jumping into the water and swimming out while never losing eye contact on the victim.

And I would add that if anyone is reading this and has passed Naval swim qualifications/abandon ship drills, they should certainly ignore my advice in favor of their training.

I tend to chime in on posts like this because +20 years ago I had three friends that capsized a Colman canoe in November. They were dressed for November but had no personal floatation devices. Two of my friends made it to shore. A third friend, an average swimmer and 6ft tall, drown in ~6ft of water because he was fully dressed +Timbs + winter jacket. He was just too bogged down to keep his head above water.

I just hope to disabuse people of the TV movie myths about swimming with your clothes on is all. It's not as simple as many of us think to just swim shore/safety fully clothed. Avoid going in the drink fully clothed. Strip if you find yourself accidentally in the water. Strip before you enter the water to save someone. PFDs are your friend. Don't try to Indiana Jones it and swim in full kit.

I think back to that Worcester cop who died saving a drowning kid recently. I don't know the facts, but I wonder if him not being trained for water rescue and possibly being in full uniform was a contributing factor to his drowning.

How dare you try to debunk a time-honored Boston tradition of pushing a good conspiracy. True Bostonians never let facts get in the way.

But if people want to believe in them and the Smiley Face Killer to liven up their lives or whatever, who cares? Live and let live.