Be careful in the ocean!

yup, this sux, i was trippin on that on the news the other night.

Not a bad idea Pat, that tends to have an impact...


I was simply alerted by the nick name "Mortuary beach", I think that says a lot!!

Isnt that or wasnt that nick name even on a sign there at one point?

Yeah, they have a big news article as part of the signs that has "MORTUARY BEACH" on it in big letters.

one beautiful day, lots of people out, and a steep beach. Here come a classload of little kids, all wanting to get their feet wet. I'm an adult and I was being very careful there. I mentioned to the caretakers to be careful of the steep beach and was told to shut up. They seemed offended. I think some of those little kids don't know how close they came to something disastrous.

My wife works at the SC harbor running non-profit oceanography classes for kids. Several times each year schools from the valley come out & behave exactly like this. It's not like harbor beach is anything like Monastery, but some of these kids don't weigh more than 40lbs, and the waves aren't always small in the spring. The teachers often take the "don't spoil the fun" attitude.
We just call them "lubbers" now.

Tom raises a good point though.  How much risk should we take to attempt a rescue as untrained and unprepared guys?  I would like to think I would do the right thing and dive in but guess you dont know until confronted.  I came across a drowned diver in Monterey and I have to admit I approached pretty cautiously in case he was alive and scrambled for the kayak.  Turns out he was already gone, so it quickly turned into a recovery rather than a rescue.

my dad grew up in coastal Japan and always said approaching a drowning person is dangerous, they will do anything to get their head above water.  Included pushing you down.  A scuba instructor also taught us to slowly swim away from the guy you are offering your rescue regulator to.  that way he grabs for he regulator instead of you

One of the people whom Hero Bill Walker tried to save died in the hospital last night. Sad sad stuff.
Yeah Eugene, it definitely makes me think twice about jumping in the ocean to try to save somebody. Maybe I'll just leave that crappy old boogieboard in the back of my truck. That way, I could call 911 and then grab the board and jump in. (Man I totally forgot about the time you & Nathan found a dead body in the kelp!)

additional trippiness for me: the Good Samaritan has the same name as my father and older brother.

If I learned nothing else from a wilderness 1st responder course, I learned the first rule: always survey the scene so as not to put yourself in danger.

It's hard to say what one would do until you are faced with that situation.

 The closest I've ever come was during a SIK intro class and one of my students flipped his boat in the Pillar Point harbor & just panicked-huge eyes, gasping breath, flailing, etc. I paddled up & presented the bow of my kayak and told him to bear hug it. He scrabbled for the deck & I had to back paddle so he didn't capsize me. I repeated the instructions (now with the rest of class around me) and told him to breathe, he was fine etc. (he was wearing a PFD & wetsuit)

Once he got a hold of the bow of my boat he calmed down considerably & i could empty the kayak & get him back into it.
We got him back in the kayak and to shore, but he was done for the day & left before we finished the class. He was cool with his panic attack & was going straight to sign up for a beginning swim class (so he said). He told me then that he had signed up for the kayak class to conquer his fear of the ocean.

what if I saw a person in serious trouble 50 yards out from the rocks?  Would, or should, I be willing to strip down from my street clothes and dive in and try to save them, keeping in mind I wouldn't be in a wetsuit, not be warmed up, and the water is 55 degrees?   Would not wanting to live with the guilt if I didn't and they drowned be a sufficient reason to do it?

Good questions - no one knows the answer until they're in the situation.  What we do know, as watermen, is that there is a great dedication that is needed in order to keep your mind and body tuned to the demands of the ocean.  I'm not claiming to always have that dialed in to the point where I know I could strip down and jump in to help people at any time, but I do think about that type of thing quite often.  If I want to claim to be a waterman, and I do want to claim that, I owe it to myself and others to know my limits and to be ready.

As for closing the beach, I think that would be a travesty.

I've done 2 ocean rescues; both times I had my 3mm suit on and I also had fins on.

On both occasions I happened to be body surfing or boogieboarding. In both those situations, I had no second thoughts about saving these 2 people, partly because I was prepared for temperature, and I have been swimming in the ocean all my life.

But that being said, I was in my 30's then.

Now at almost Ravensblack's age , I would not just jump in. Age has made me wiser, so there would be a lot of situation assessment going on in my head. How far out are they, whats the water temp, are they physically large enough to overpower me in their frightened state, whats the rip,surge,wave, is there anybody near that could help me if needed?

It would be a very emotional situation for damn sure.

Rich

Surface temp at aquatic park was only ~53 this week.  I don't care how many times I train there, its still shockingly cold first getting in.  Took me 20 mins to regain full sensation of my feet after an hour of fun on Weds night.  Felt so cold I'm still shivering, lol. 

But of course I'd go in after a distressed swimmer if I were just passing by and saw somebody who needed it.  Just strip off shirt shoes pants, and pray I'm wearing clean underwear.  But that's me, i'm trained and conditioned so it wouldn't be extraordinary. 

What's extraordinary and special is your average joe public going in after a trio of distressed swimmers in the surf zone.  That's truly courageous, and I tip my swim cap to him for attempting such a selfless act.  RIP.

In my waterpolo days I would not blink at jumping in for a rescue, after all I was used to fighting for position and keeping the other guy from over powering me. In my current desk jockey condition I would have to rely more on control of the situation and not control of the other person. It is shocking to me how many people can't swim and do water sports such as boogie boarding, wakeboarding and kayaking.

-Brian G

It is shocking to me how many people can't swim and do water sports such as boogie boarding, wakeboarding and kayaking.

Ditto...would think that would kinda be a prerequisite??!!

I know I wouldn't let my daughter get on a kayak if she couldn't swim!!
 
Sincerely,

Jim

Now at almost Ravensblack's age  , I would not just jump in.

   Dude, you're that old?  How do yo even get away from the walker? 

On my way back in on Big River yesterday (ocean water), I paddled next to a woman who had to go 75 that was swimming laps in the river mouth.  I joked that it looked cold (water temp around 49-50).  She said the water was fine.

I'm a wimp. brrrrr.....

  Isn't it odd that you read about a 70 year old +  being able to complete long distance cold water swims whereas an unconditioned younger  swimmer lasts  a few minutes?

Yesterday, my brother and I swam our qualifying/check out swims for the 2 mile Dwight Crum Hermosa Pier2Pier.  There was a guy well north of 50 yo who placed second in our heat.  In trunks.  With a big pot belly.  A mat of chest hair that would make Austin Powers jealous.  I finished third, wearing the same NASA-developed Speedo LZR fullsuit that Michael Phelps wore in Beijing '08.   

Its inspiring to get my a$$ kicked by hairy pot bellied dudes swimming in trunks, lol.  Use it or lose it.  "Conditioning" is probably the most "expensive" piece of safety equipment in our sport - but should be part of everyone's preparedness kit.

   Here's another version of "what a drowning person looks like":

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/drowning-looks-different-than-you-think-2010225/

   So, if that's true, I might just walk on by, unaware the person has seconds to live, and not ever agonizing over whether to jump in.   I see people without wetsuits out in the water all the time around Santa Cruz, most of them playing in the shore break, but sometimes stroking along or resting a minute.  Maybe there would be something that would strike me as odd about what part of the coast they were near, how old they appeared to be, how far out they were, or their body position. 
    Though from some of the comments of others in this thread, some people in serious trouble exhibit the thrashing behavior.