A recent tragic outcome of a friendly beach outing reported in the news. I believe the prime cause of this was a simple misunderstanding of the difference and danger between pool swimming and surf swimming. Every year, there's a load of teens who likely are fairly decent swimmers in a pool environment, attempt to swim at the beach without the full knowledge and appreciation of what an ocean surf environment entails. They then pay a steep price for a very sad lesson. The surf is an ongoing system of movement as water is delivered to the beach and then removed. In a simple 100 foot stretch of beach, literally tons of water is exchanged every minute. If one is caught in an outgoing plume of water, the force exerted is so powerful that it will literally suck a person off the beach and carry them out to sea. That is, one could be standing in waist deep water and all of a sudden the water seems to then push you out further and further away from the beach no matter how hard you resist. In fact, once you're caught in a rip current (sometimes also erroneously called a rip tide) the recommended course of action is to never swim against the outgoing current because it would be nearly impossible as even strong powerful swimmers would only exhaust one's self attempting to do so. Instead, swim a course perpendicular to the flow of water until you're out of the grip of the outgoing current. Then make your way back to shore. Be safe out there https://www.yahoo.com/news/two-teens-swept-sea-san-francisco-beach-presumed-195845018.html?nhp=1
Thanks would have loved to know this before my hawaii trip way back then, when a good friend of mine lost his life to it...
Sorry for your loss. Seriously, I find it shocking that there isn't much public awareness of this annual danger. I sincerely wish that local governments undertake the display of public notices at beaches to warn young inexperience swimmers. I also wish that swim organizations that have or maintain pools, in addition to teaching swimming and water safety, routinely cover the dangerous differences of rip currents and how much more demanding swimming in surf is, as opposed to swimming in pools.
Agreed! If anything Hawaii should have lifeguards posted on all their beaches considering that's the main reason people go there is to swim!!!
