Posted on 09/16/2009 11:50:29 AM PDT by SonnyBubba
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Perdido Key firefighters say two Louisiana tourists drowned at a Pensacola beach and 11 swimmers were rescued.
Authorities say they received a call Tuesday afternoon of swimmers tangled in the beach's strong riptides.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.al.com ...
Red flags were flying. Please people, don’t go into the gulf or stay close to shore in rough surf.
In about 1981 Mrs. jimfree was caught in a riptide on the beach of the Mayport (Florida) Naval Station. I was absolutely terrified as I coached her to move sideways to escape. That was perhaps the most tense minute of my life.
I’ve been caught in one myself. It’s easier said than done to not panic. But yes, if people would swim parallel to shore they can swim out of it.
AMEN, Bubs! I almost drowned doing the same thing. Learned my lesson the hard way. It’s really easy to take the ‘force of water’ for granted and think you’re a strong swimmer....but water ALWAYS has ‘the upper hand’.
Prayers for their friends and family.
Most of the time the surf is only 3 feet. I would never even think of entering the water with rough surf.
I have too. I used to love to drive all the way down Santa Rosa Island to Navarre. I think Ivan knocked out parts of the road, and I don’t know if it was ever repaired. I have also sailed in the sound to Ft. Walton.
My husband and I vacationed there last summer, and the road appeared to be OK.
I do not know how many people I have rescued on my surfboard in the rips. Surfers use the rips to help us paddle out past the shorebreak or other surf zones. I had to save my wife and two of our friends last year in Cape Hatteras. I always brief our team on what to look for in the way of rips, but they did not listen too well. Damn good thing I saw them after I rode a wave, way out past where they should have been. The adreanaline was pumping so hard, I got physically ill afterwards.
Do NOT go in after someone without flotation devices!
She was panicking but she was also listening, and we were alone on the beach; noone else was around to help. That focused me.
And I did not. I was out only far enough for her to hear me as I talked her out of the ripo.
Yesterday?? What the heck were they thinking? It stormed hard all day yesterday here and we are just an hour east of that spot.
You'll have to settle for a 40 watt tan in The Sandshaker but the Bushwackers are very tasty.
Very good, I read that. You did the right thing. It appears that people who goo in after someone become the victim and the first is rescued or survives. I am glad you were able to get her through the trouble.
Whatever happened with all those people around P’cola that were busted for cocaine in “Operation Sandshaker” a few years ago. I never heard of any convictions.
Maybe they meant Perdido Key and were calling it a "Pensacola-area beach."
Perdido Key's miles away from the Penscola beaches, particularly Pencola Beach proper, even as the crow flies across the Bay. To drive from Perdido Key (possibly back over the Intercoastal Waterway on the Leo Baars Bridge) into Pensacola (even cutting through the Naval Air Station), then out the long, long bridge to Penscola Beach? I wonder why Perdido Key firefighters would do that.
The inlaws have a place on Perdido Key and I know the geography.
The riptides can be deadly at Perdido Key as well.
They all went to jail, including the owner. She’s out now....saw her out in town my last trip down there.
“Do NOT go in after someone without flotation devices!”
Amen.
If you go to the beach to swim in an ocean ALWAYS have a flotation device with a leash. A good boogie board works.
Yes, that works well. I swim without my surfboard at times, I bodysurf from time to time. It could happen to me, but I will not panic if caught in a rip. Also, I try not to go out alone. I have missed some good surf because no one else was out.
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