As summer returns and families flock to the beach for vacation fun, an important opportunity presents itself to teach kids some basic life-saving facts about swimming in the ocean. Simply put, pool and lake swimming are very different from sea swimming.
A child may be an outstanding, even competitive, swimmer in the relative calm of a backyard or neighborhood pool. But this skill and knowledge doesn’t always translate well to an ocean environment, where tides, currents and wildlife present challenges that can upset strong swimmers, putting them in real danger before they even have a chance to react.
Tidal Knowledge Helps Children Play Safely While Swimming in the Ocean
The heartbeat and pulse of the sea is its tidal schedules. There are two high tides and two low tides in every 24-hour period, and the ocean is always moving somewhere between these poles. Tidal schedules can be found in the paper or online, and a safe day at the beach always considers them.
When the tide is low or heading towards low, the waters are calmer and swimming in them is easier. When the tide is coming in and moving towards high, the water is rougher, winds are higher and currents are stronger. High tide is great fun for body and board surfing and general frolicking, but it is also a more dangerous time to be in the ocean.
Even low tide has risks. While calmer on the surface, there is a still always a current in the ocean. This unseen current can pull a raft or inner tube out towards deeper waters. Tides should also be considered if the beach is close to a sandbar. Kids who swim out to the sandbar when the waters are low can find themselves trapped in rougher sea conditions as the tides move in, covering the shoal and the area back to land with higher stronger waters.
How to Swim Safely if Caught in a Rip Tide or Rip Current in the Ocean
Colloquially called “rip tides,” and officially defined as “rip currents,” this ocean condition is a very real sea swimming danger that children should know about. Regardless of nomenclature, a rip current is a strong undertow that creates a powerful moving channel of water between the shore and the deeper sea.
While trained lifeguards who are positioned high on the beach can spot a rip tide, swimmers cannot see it until they are caught in it. Rip currents cause numerous drowning deaths each year, but they are not hard to outmaneuver safely by doing two things: staying calm and floating.
Children should be taught what it feels like to be caught in a rip tide. It feels like a powerful current, which is exactly what it is. If a child is swimming but not moving forward or being pulled in a different direction no matter how hard they try to swim, they are in a rip, or other very strong, current.
Never Try to Swim Out of a Rip Tide or Any Other Powerful Sea Current
Kids should be instructed to never ever try to out swim a rip tide. As a general rule, it’s just not possible, no matter how strong a swimmer the person caught in one is. People who drown as a result of a rip tide do so because they panic while expending tremendous amounts of energy trying to swim out. The resulting fear and exhaustion causes them to take on too much water and drown.
Children (or anyone, of course) who find themselves in a rip current should remain calm, turn on their backs to float with their head above the water and allow the rip tide to pull them. This can be frightening. At first, the current will pull them towards deeper waters. However, most rip tides are not terribly long. At some point, the current reaches deep enough water that the powerful pull ceases.
A child will know he is out of the rip tide when he feels it stop pulling his body. At this point, having saved his energy by floating, the child should swim parallel to the shore line about 25 yards or so to make certain he is completely out of the rip tide’s channel. Then, he can safely swim to shore.
Learning to anticipate and swim safely in the constantly changing currents of the ocean is the most important beach safety education that can be given to children. Some local YMCAs or community centers offer courses regarding safe ocean swimming. Take advantage of these resources before planning a family beach vacation.
For more information on summer safety, please read Outdoor Summer Safety Tips for Kids and How to Prevent and Treat Sunburn at the Beach.
Source:
Popular Mechanics Website. Worst-Case Scenarios: How to Survive a Riptide (accessed April 7, 2010).
Janice Fahy - Janice Fahy is a freelance writer who is comfortable researching and writing on just about any topic under the sun.
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