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Water safety and Rip tides



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amother
OP


 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 9:30 pm
I wasn’t sure where to post. I want to teach my kids water safety. Please tell me what they need to know to get out of a rip tide safely.
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amother
Cerulean


 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 9:33 pm
I looked it up.
There are four ways to handle it. Each contradicts the other. Smile
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amother
Cerulean


 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 9:36 pm
Basically your neshama should ask before coming down not to be stuck by a rip tide.
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amother
Royalblue


 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 9:39 pm
Don’t go near unsafe water.
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Genius




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 9:39 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
I wasn’t sure where to post. I want to teach my kids water safety. Please tell me what they need to know to get out of a rip tide safely.

I once heard RIP is for rest in peace... Not much to do in such a situation. I think it said in one of the kid magazines to swim out to the side and not against the current, if that's helpful.
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amother
Firebrick


 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 9:41 pm
Float on your back and signal that you need help. DO NOT TRY TO SWIM BACK TO SHORE.

Either the waves will bring you back or someone will come save you. A riptide will NOT bring you to the middle of the ocean, just a bit away from the shore.

If you are a very strong swimmer, you can try to swim parallel to the shore until you escape the riptide, then swim back to shore.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SWIM AGAINST THE WATER.
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amother
Coral


 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 9:52 pm
As per firebrick above, here's a longer explanation stolen from facebook

Kenny Jewell - Official


As a former surf lifesaver I constantly find myself when I'm at a beach automatically in patrol mode, and I'm always troubled seeing the amount of swimmers that enter the surf straight into a rip zone. This includes, and most worrying of all children. I know a lot of people are kind of aware of what to do if caught in a rip, but it has been brought to my attention recently that a lot of people aren't aware of what a rip actually looks like or where the safest place to swim at the beach is if there is no flagged area.

One person will drown every two to three days this summer... 90% of those fatalities will be rip-related. Here are a few things that will help you and your kids stay safe this summer. I have also put together a few images that show what to look for.

1. The easiest thing to remember is that often the safest/calmest most enticing looking area along a beach is usually a rip. A rip is usually the area devoid of wave activity and appears darker and deceptively calmer. It can sometimes appear milky or turbulent, but it is always pretty much void of wave activity. All that water coming in via waves has to go back out somehow, this is what a rip is. (see pics).

2. Always take 5-10 mins when you get to the beach to observe surf conditions and identify where these areas are.

3. If you are caught in a rip, DO NOT PANIC. Go into floating mode and raise one arm as a distress signal when possible. See which direction the rip is taking you, is it straight out or at an angle? once you have determined this, and if you have the energy, swim to the right or left of the direction of flow, never against. Some rips can move at 3 times the speed of an olympic swimmer, you won't win! If you cannot swim out to either side of the rip, just go with it. Most rips won't take you out very far, and will usually spit you out not long after they take you, so keep calm and save your energy for the swim back to shore.

4. If you have kids, show them these pictures, educate them and make them aware. You can't always be watching them, and it is only a matter of a few metres each way of the point of entry to the water that could mean them being safe, or instantly caught in a rip.

Obviously the safest place to swim is always between the flags on a patrolled beach, but this isn't always practical given the immensity of our coast line and number of beautiful beaches. Of course there are many other factors that can come into play when it comes to beach safety, but rips are the No.1 killer. They are not hard to identify, and 10 mins observation before entering the surf is much easier than body retrieval.

Kenny Jewell - Official
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amother
Coral


 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 9:56 pm
Here's a good illustration for why you should swim parallel to shore, then diagonally back

https://www.weathernationtv.co.....tion/
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amother
Firebrick


 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 10:14 pm
A riptide is essentially a fast-moving river heading out to sea from the beach.

You know how the waves roll in to shore? Well, a riptide brings that water back out to sea.

Just as you would NEVER try to swim upstream in white-water rapids (unless you are a salmon), don't try to fight against the riptide.

It may seem that riptides will go on forever, but they never will! After a few minutes you'll find yourself back in calm water where you can wait for help (or swim diagonally away from the riptide and back to shore if you are a strong swimmer). Sometimes the riptide itself will circle back to shore.

It can be scary to feel yourself being dragged away from the shore, but if you know what's going on, you can try to relax. To survive a riptide, you need to stay calm! Don't panic and try to fight against the current. Go with the flow, float, signal that you're getting carried away, and be prepared to wait for help.
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amother
Khaki


 

Post Sun, Jul 14 2019, 11:19 pm
The most important thing you can teach your kids about riptides is to stay out of the water. Stay out of the ocean if red flags are up, if there are warning signs, if passersbys tell you it is dangerous to be in the water. Teach your kids not to listen to counselors if the water isn't safe to go in.

When I was in HS I lost a classmate to riptides. It was also a closed ocean beach. The people on the beach formed a human chain to rescue distressed swimmers, but they couldn't save one girl.
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