The most recent time I was in Florida, I was thinking about a trip to the beach. The water is warm at this time of the year, I was kind of looking forward to a nice soak in the ocean. I looked at the weather while doing my daily duty on the treadmill and there were warnings about rough surf and dangerous rip current. A rip current is a very strong current that flows out from the beach, dragging swimmers with it. There was a storm far off shore headed north, that was causing dangerous conditions along the coast. I opted out of going into the water.
I was standing on a raised walkway over the dunes, watching the guy above trying to get out of the water. He would stand up, and the get knocked down and drug backwards into the surf. He would get his footing and start to move toward the beach, and seconds later he would be 25 feet out into deeper water. Now the water he was in was little more than knee deep, but the rip current kept knocking him off his feet. He was in trouble. I was about empty my pockets and make a dash for the surf, when his family finally decided to help him. It took a couple of people to get him stable on his feet and moving toward the sand. He sat there in sand, they rolled his oxygen tank over to him. Ten minutes later, he was wading back into the water.
I was caught in a rip current once at the beach at San Clemente, CA, when I was about 10 years old. It was exhausting. My mom was watching me though, and could see I was in trouble; the lifeguard also headed down to shore break. My mom was just about to come in after me when I finally was able to break out of it. I remember feeling so scared and so very, very tired - I've never forgotten that feeling. We live in Hawai'i now, and our closest beach has permanent signs up warning of rip currents. When they're really bad, the lifeguards always come down and warn us in person to not go in the water (although we rarely do as it is). We have a deep respect for the power of the ocean here.
ReplyDeleteVisitors here see the red flags flying indicating it's dangerous (prohibited) to swim but they argue the sea is calm and go in anyway... and regularly have to be rescued (or worse). Rip currents can be deadly.
ReplyDelete"Ten minutes later, he was wading back into the water" - special kind of stupid there; or he has a death wish. people don't realize what a powerful element water is.
ReplyDeleteSwim parallel to the shore to get out of it. Counterintuitive but it works. Like many other things in life, go with the flow and then you will find a way out.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on the Great Lakes; we think swimming in the sea is zany.
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