Gothamist: Dangerous Weekend at Beaches, 3 Still Missing

1987porsche944

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:58:33 -0500

A body washed up on the beach in NJ this morning. http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080728/NEWS/80728026&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL =( I got caught in a riptide when I was 10 years old out on Jones Beach. It was the worst experience ever, I was tumbled through the water and had no idea which way was up or down. I couldn't see the shore to know to swim parallel to it. My aunt managed to pull me out.

Jerky

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:28:25 -0500

Regional Climate Change!

Snoopy

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:52:54 -0500

Doesn't it seem to be there are a large number of drownings this summer compared to other years?

Alex

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:20:55 -0500

It's a definite tradgedy that these people died, but the problem isn't a lack of lifeguards, it's a lack of education. I grew up in central Florida going to the beaches every week. There were never lifeguards, and I never saw someone drown. Everyone needs to understand that when you get caught in a riptide, you don't panic and try to swim back to shore. You want to, as calmly as possible, swim parallel to the shore until you get out of the rip tide. Also, if the water seems in anyway threatening, you shouldn't go in. I was in the Hamptons this weekend, and the riptides were nothing you wouldn't experience on the average summer day in Florida. Also, a more personal anecdote. Whenever my sister and I were in the water, my dad was always right on shore in a chair watching us. If they had to run to the car for any amount of time, we'd get out and wait for him to get back. He'd of course be sitting under an umbrella and reading, but he'd always know where we were. Maybe parents up here should follow suit.

Toby von Meistersinger

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:03:39 -0500

When I was about 5 I almost drowned in the Atlantic at the Jersey Shore. So, I would probably say that the safest place for children, and anyone else for that matter, to go swimming is in a swimming pool properly staffed with a life guard.

JenChungsBra

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:45:45 -0500

The father says there should have been more lifeguards. Right, it's always someone else's fault.