Beach-Safety Lessons at Your Fingertips
Technology signals a new age for beach-safety tips.
The Sea Isle City and Upper Township beach patrols utilize their websites by different means to accent the preaching of their top executives. Here’s a look at how they do it.
Sea Isle City: Chief Renny Steele has taken the massive list appearing on the beach patrol website into another dimension. A different tip appears on the site every Saturday, illuminating what he has already compiled over many years.
“The list is something we update and constantly improve as we go,” Steele notes. “People already like to read the list and refresh themselves about it every year before they go onto the beach.
“It is also accessible on their phone whenever they want to see it. On the website, we like to add a safety tip that may appear urgent at the time.”
That could be a recent issue that inspires a renewed focus. It could mean a regulation or tip that does not gain significant attention.
Benefits to this approach are substantial. A website tip can cover a regulation more deeply than a listing of it. The presentation also brings people’s eyes back to the entire list, which is already on the site.
Steele also finds a new item each summer when speaking to the Sea Isle Times. This year, it concerns a photo ID.
"One of the things we look at to find lost children is a recent picture the parents might have of their child," he says. “Parents often have a faulty description of what their children had on when they speak to the lifeguards. A picture may be something from two days ago.
“Everybody kind of forgets how important that might be. It’s a good idea to take a picture of your child the day he/she is going on to the beach and then you have something accurate to show the lifeguard.”
Steele adds that parents with autistic children should bring them down to the lifeguard and introduce them. This helps the guards quickly identify the child if some issues quickly arise.
Beyond the website video and the listing, here is an excerpt of safety tips Steele has assembled over several decades:
General Beach Safety Tips
Always listen to lifeguard’s whistles and swim directly in front of the lifeguard stand. Guards are aware of ocean hazards such as rip currents, inshore holes, and lateral currents. This awareness enables guards to keep bathers away from these hazards and safe. Never enter the water when lifeguards are not present.
Do not play around or climb on rock jetties and groins. Fish hooks and broken glass frequently collect around these structures. Additionally, permanent rip currents often form near jetties and groins.
To protect against both UVB and UVA rays of the sun, periodically apply sunblock (especially after swimming or exercising) whenever on the beach. Additionally, protect your eyes with sunglasses. Use an umbrella and hat when sitting on the beach for an extended period of time.
Poor or non-swimmers who are using floatation devices, especially a device not attached to the body, should never be more than waist deep in the ocean. Loss of a floatation device in water over a person’s head can result in tragedy.
Do not feed the sea gulls; occasionally they bite.
Follow the 30/30 rule during an electric storm. Leave the beach and seek safe shelter when less than 30 seconds occurs between the sighting of lightning and the hearing of thunder (flash-to-bang count). Do not return to the beach until 30 minutes have passed after your last flash-to-bang count. Whenever the lifeguards vacate the stand and leave the beach due to lightning, you should also leave the beach.
Never dig parallel to the sand’s surface (a tunnel). Eventually the tunnel will collapse and suffocate anyone inside the tunnel. The sides of a hole dug in sand can also collapse. Dig holes only to a waist-deep depth. If more than one person is in the hole, the depth should be waist-deep of the shortest person in the hole. Holes should not be left unattended and should be filled in before you leave the beach.
Walk small children to the lifeguard stand and instruct them to go to the stand whenever they are lost. Bring a unique flag or umbrella for children to use as a landmark. Special needs children should be introduced to the lifeguards. When you arrive at the beach, for added safety, take a cellphone picture of your child’s beach attire.
Make sure beach umbrellas are anchored securely in the sand. Do not use an umbrella when high winds could possibly carry the umbrella down the beach and injure beach-goers. When an umbrella is flying down the beach, never approach it head-on. Approach an umbrella from behind as if you are chasing it.
Protect feet with footwear when the sand is extremely hot. This is especially true with young children whose feet are tender and not callused. Small children’s feet can actually be burnt to the point of blistering.
Remain properly hydrated by drinking water whenever on the beach. This safety tip is of heightened importance if you consumed alcohol or coffee within the last 12 hours.
Avoid strenuous exercise during extreme heat.
Lifeguards watch swimmers for signs of distress.
Rip Currents
If caught in a rip current, remain calm to conserve energy and think clearly. Do not fight the current by trying to swim directly into shore. Swim parallel to the shoreline until you are no longer in the rip. When out of the current, swim toward the shore.
Head, Neck, and Back Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are a serious problem in shore break, usually associated with body surfing or diving headfirst into a wave and hitting the ocean floor. Most spinal cord injuries are preventable.
Do not dive headfirst into unknown water.
Do not dive toward the bottom into oncoming waves. Hold your hands out in front of your head and dive through the wave. Another safe method of negotiating the waves is to squat down and allow the wave to roll over top of you.
Always be aware of the wave action. Do not stand in the water with your back to the waves.
Avoid bodysurfing, boogie boarding, or surfing at the crest of the wave. This practice will result in a rapid, dangerous drop from the top of the wave to the bottom of the wave. Always ride the shoulder of a wave.
In a “wipeout,” land as flat as possible with your hands in front of you.
While bodysurfing, keep your arms in front of you to protect your head and neck.
Upper Township: A chilling, powerful and effective video short appears on the beach patrol website.
Go to the Beach Safety and Ocean Knowledge section of the site. A video will appear about a fictional fatality.
It was put together by young patrol members and features the use of a drone, patrol members, and the Strathmere Fire Department.
The video shows a male and female who enter the unguarded beach waters after hours. Later, as he takes a few seconds to leave the ocean and check his phone, just a few feet out of the water, she is swept away by a rip current and ultimately drowns.
The video captures rescue attempts, the concern on faces of those involved, and the result of a rip current that struck instantly. It also points out that 80% of drownings occur in unguarded waters.
This video is worth a thousand lectures. The fact that it was put together by people in their early twenties illustrates that the teachings of older professionals has filtered down.
Hats off to patrol members Gaige Bobbit, Ryan Fisher, Colin Stewart and Brooke Handley, the daughter of Upper Township Beach Patrol Chief Bill Handley.
Not a word is spoken in this video, which makes it even more powerful.
Fortunately, it’s fictional.
But the events it describes are not.
