When the ocean wins one
- The board washed in without him. The set cleaned him up and the leash didn’t hold. When you reach him he’s face-down and quiet — get him in, get him flat, breaths first.
- Six feet of foam, one fin. The board tomahawks back on the leash and the fin finds his scalp. Scalps bleed like theater — direct pressure works if you commit to it.
- The reef tax. The inside section put her on the coral and her shin is open and dirty. A long way from a clinic, cleaning the wound matters as much as covering it.
Read these between swells
Ordered by what remote breaks actually produce:
- Water & Lightning — drowning response is breaths first — the core of surf-zone medicine
- Airway & Breathing — position the surfer you just dragged up the sand
- Bleeding & Wounds — fins and reef open skin — pressure beats panic, cleaning beats regret
- Spine Injuries — shallow-water head strikes earn the spine questions, every time
- Evacuation — no tower, no guard — the call and the carry are on you
Then pressure-test it
Interactive scenarios — one decision at a time, tempting mistakes included, debrief at the end:
- Snoring Isn’t Sleeping — the unresponsive patient whose airway fixes with position
- Stop Peeking — a bleeding wound rewards patience, not peeking
- The Guy Who’s Fine — he took the hit and he’s laughing — take vitals twice
The certification question, honestly. “Wilderness First Aid” isn’t a regulated credential. No government body defines what a WFA card means — it means whatever the company that printed it says it means. What counts in front of a patient is whether you can do the work. This course teaches the work, free, and issues a record of completion — not a certificate, and we won’t pretend otherwise. If you operate a camp or retreat, duty of care is real: insurers and host countries often expect staff with recognized training, and lifeguard or surf-rescue credentials cover the water work itself. This course is the free groundwork underneath — not the credential. If nobody requires you to hold a card, what you need are the skills, not the laminate.
What this is
Fifteen lessons, a 40-question knowledge check, sixteen practice scenarios, a printable field reference card, and a kit checklist. Free, no account, nothing recorded about you, source on GitHub. It teaches decision-making, not hands-on skill — practice the hands-on parts on a real, padded, complaining friend.
Other people who read water: freedivers, spearfishers & remote scuba divers · boat captains & crew, commercial and recreational · whitewater rafters, kayakers & packrafters