Posted on 06/22/2024 4:49:41 AM PDT by george76
The couple was vacationing at Hutchinson Island, Florida, with their 6 children..
A Chester County, Pennsylvania couple has died after they were caught in a rip current while vacationing with their six children off Hutchinson Island, which is near Port St. Lucie, Florida.
The victims have been identified as 51-year-old Brian Warter and his 48-year-old girlfriend, Erica Wishard, both of Downingtown.
The family was swimming around 1:30 p.m. behind the Marriott Hotel when the couple and two of their children were swept out by a rip current.
Police said the kids were able to break the current and tried to help their parents, but the water was too dangerous and they were forced to swim back to shore.
"Multiple witnesses told our investigators that both the male and female, who are now deceased, got in the ocean, right into a rip current and immediately were pulled from the shore. One of the children of the deceased tried to yell to them instructions on how to swim parallel to the shore, but they were in panic mode and unfortunately went under," Martin County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy John Budensiek
...
"Lifeguards entered the water and were able to pull out one unconscious person and begin CPR, " said MCFR officials.
A few moments later, another unconscious swimmer was rescued, and CPR was initiated.
Those life-saving efforts continued in the ambulance and at the hospital, but doctors said they were not able to be saved.
...
Rip currents are very dangerous along the East Coast, including at the Jersey shore.
Local reports indicate the couple were swimming during a High Hazard Warning Flag advisory, which means high surf and strong currents.
"It is a beautiful place, but they don't realize how dangerous it can be the ocean is strong and final when it gets a hold of you," said Martin County Sheriff Deputy John Budensiek.
Warter had two older boys in their late teens. Wishard had four children.
...
Experts warn that if you get caught in a rip current, do not fight it, and instead let it take you out to sea.
You should also swim horizontally to the coast to get out of one.
A Martin County Sheriff's Crisis Intervention Team Deputy is helping the couple's children as they await the arrival of other family members.
I get the humor, man. Others are dense.
Well said
We used to live on the east coast, and rip tides were no joke- we heard fairly often of folks caught in them, some survived, some didn’t. We were told that if it ever happened to swin parallel to the rip current, not agaisnt it because it would tire you out quick if you tried to get back to the spot that you got stuck in the current from.
I have same in oceans, ponds, lakes, rivers and pools my entire life.
And people have drown in oceans, ponds, lakes, rivers, and pools my entire life
If you cannot swim, at all, then shallow, still bodies of water pose the least risk, but if you know how to swim, and are aware of the unique risks and how to avoid or deal with them then you will be okay in most situations.
Rip currents are damned scary if you aren’t a strong swimmer and you don’t know what’s going on and/or panic. Imagine yourself standing on the shore of a raging rapidly moving river.. you would never jump in and decide that I’m going to swim upstream.. However people who find themselves in rip currents often do exactly that, not consciously jump into one knowingly, but when they realize they are being dragged very rapidly out away from shore attempt to swim against the current and rapidly tide and go under.
If you are the type of individual who tends toward panic when under stressful situations, no matter how strong a swimmer you are, you are likely going to make the wrong decision and wind up dead. (And this would be true of finding oneself in any high stress situation where the the wrong reaction could kill you.)
Twice, when my children and I were at the beach here on the east coast, someone drowned in the ocean. One was a young girl caught in a riptide. Another was a young man.
I guess some people need the /s to get a joke
So, this was a couple who each had their own children from previous marriages or relationships.
Hope the kids' other parents are alive and well and able to take care of them.
May God hold them close, very sad.
It does happen regularly, and sadly children are the victims (well, anyone drowning is sad, but with kids, it’s even worse). The guilt that the parents must have felt afterwards must have been tremendous.
Took a swimming course in physical education many years ago and we were taught “drown proofing”, a survival technique supposedly developed by a pilot shot down in the Pacific during WW2. System involves no swimming to tire you out, simply bobbing up and down. Basically you take a deep breath, allow your body to sink, bend over so that your upper body is horizontal to the water surface, rise, take a deep breath and repeat. The air in your lungs provides ballast needed to rise. We were required to do this for an entire class, demonstrating the effectiveness of the system. Don’t know if anyone teaches this anymore but think it should be mandatory for beginning swimmers.
Good system
A day without sarcasm (with the /sarc tag off), is like a day without coffee. My keyboard has a mind of its own. It doesn't have Tourette Syndrome (at least not that I know of), but it has a very dry sense of humor.
No, that’s called a plain tide.
Read their tag line- it’s sarcasm re: globull warning. Literalism kills.
I am so sorry to hear this.
I grew up in a beach city in Southern California - the beaches constantly had rip tides - we were taught as kids to swim parallel (everyone learned how to swim as a young kid and I had to pass a swim test to graduate high school, it was mandated back in the good old days) - to the shoreline until the rip current ends.
I think that was called the dead man’s float.
The last thing you need in a situation like that is ballast.
Regards,
So sad
Good advice!
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