Saturday, July 11, 2009

Windy days and Rip tides


What a blustery summers day.

The ocean is wild with white waves and there is an awesome rip tide but the sun is bright and warm. A perfect day for laying in the hot sand and for digging holes to play in. It's a tough task to convince our 2 year old not to stomp on the sand castles or to fill in the holes but everyone is content nonetheless. The wind surfers must really be enjoying the north wind though I imagine they'll need a ride back down south today.
Swimming in the ocean on a day like today is a dangerous sport but oh so much fun. Our oldest daughter is a good swimmer and well aware of the risks of rip tides (fast moving streams of water that travel off shore) but our 4 year old took quite a few wipe outs as she is a daredevil in the ocean. We're really working with her on some tips for getting out of a rip tide. I'll post them with the prayer that none of you will ever need them:
1. Never try to fight a rip current by swimming straight into shore.
2. Swim parallel to the shore until you get out of the rip current. (They are usually less than 100 feet wide)
3. If you cannot swim out of it, stay calm and float on your back until you drift out of the current.
4. Once you are out of the current, swim towards shore. A full description of rip tides and how to handle them can be found at http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/overview.shtml.


Enjoy the ocean but be safe and swim near a lifeguard!

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