how to Buddy tow
A buddy tow is a swimming technique used for lifesaving within Navy SEAL training. It involves one swimmer (the rescuer) towing another swimmer (the buddy), who may be incapacitated or injured, through the water to safety. This technique is critical in special operations and combat swimming scenarios where a SEAL may need to assist a teammate like Michael Thornton did back in 1972. He towed his comrade for two hours. So lock it up.
buddying towing techinque
First, realize that towing someone is slow - and that slow and steady wins this race.
Buddy towing is a modified version of CSS where you scissor kick and pull with your bottom arm at the same time. Usually 2 or 3 times before breathing. Anything over 3 is overkill IMO - you need the oxygen. Breath every 2 or 3.
Your top arm goes across your buddy like a seatbelt and you grab him right where his arm pit meets his pec. Make sure you’ve got a nice, tight grip on him. Do not have a soft grip. You must be aggressive.
Your buddy’s lower back will be situated on your top hip - you should look like one person - so make sure they are glued to your hip. If you look like two people swimming side by side, you are doing it wrong.
This is also why breaststroke kick sucks for buddy towing because your hips open up into your buddy and you kick him. Don’t use a breaststroke kick.
Pay close attention to your head position during tows. When you aren’t breathing, you ideally want your eyes looking towards the bottom of the pool/ocean so that your hip stays up. You can even push your head down to pop your hip up if you need - your body essentially is a teeter totter in the water - if you push down with your face and chest, your hips and backend must come up and vice versa. This is helpful when initially getting your buddy onto plane - you want to get him horizontal as quickly as possible. Pushing down with your head is also helpful when you are towing a heavy hipped guy.
The cadre doesn’t exactly make this easy on the rescuer. It’s more of a little wrestling match and this is where guys get into trouble. The lifesaving portion at BUDS is a little bit of wrestling, a little bit of swimming, and a little bit of weight lifting.
You start by jumping into the pool using a stride jump. A stride jump is basically spreading your legs as far apart as possible like your taking one giant step. You are trying to create as much surface area as possible so you don’t go under the water. Your arms do the same thing, out to your sides. You must maintain eye contact on your victim the entire time.
From there, you will swim head up freestyle (aka Tarzan drill) to your victim, maintaining visual on your drowning victim.
For a compliant, non combative victim, you’ll simply grab them by the wrist and pull them into your tow. This is the wrestling portion of lifesaving and should be fast and aggressive. For an uncompliant, combative victim, you probably need to dive under the water, grab the victim by the hips and turn them so that their back is facing you. Now get them into your tow. You must be aggressive.
Once you get them to the side of the pool, put your knee in their butt so they have somewhere to sit. Stack their hands on top of each other on the pool deck. Exit the pool like you normally would but with one of your hands holding down your buddy’s hands. It’ll be a 3 hand stack. Now it’s time for the weight lifting portion of lifesaving. Grab your buddy’s wrists - they should be crossed, yours shouldn’t be. You are going to dead lift your buddy out of the pool and twist them at the same time. The victim’s top arm will point the way they should spin. Dunk them a couple of times to gain momentum before you give it a go. There butt should land on the deck with you foot now in their butt so that your leg creates a back rest for them. Bring them down slowly, laying down their arms first, then their head.
drills & TRAINING for buddy tows
You will most likely have some sort of extended Buddy Towing evolution at BUDS. You should prepare yourself for doing an hour worth of buddy towing.
To work on technique, do the Buddy Tow Drill. Just pretend you are towing someone. Once you get the technique down, start towing your diving brick - place it on your top hip, exactly where your buddy would be. Do these drills on both sides.
It’s also helpful to do the entire Lifesaving circuit multiple times with multiple buddies so you practice with different sized people and distances.
What's Next?
Join the Combat Side Stroke Workout Group
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