Summer deaths by drowning in hot weather

[Anordinarymum]

Always awful to hear on the news that anyone has died swimming at a beauty spot/in the sea.
Yesterday I was shocked to hear about the guy who drowned in the sea at Reighton Sands. He was a fit athletic man caught in the rip tide.

I wish they would explain in detail why people drown in beauty spots so we could understand better. It has always been a mystery to me how a fit person drowns in hot weather.
All these things.. rip tides and the like need explaining so people know exactly why they should not go in the water no matter how hot it is and no matter how many others are doing it.

It's not about not going in the water. It's about doing it safely.

I think a lot of the deaths are caused by cold water shock.

The key thing I've taught my daughter is that if she falls in water unexpectedly or gets into trouble, to float on her back. There are further points to learn if you're older than she is (7).

I agree. We all know of the messaging about being careful when going into water, but reasons for the dangers are hardly ever spelt out. If the reasons were better publicised, people would be more aware of the specific dangers of specific types of water rather than a rather generic "take care" message.

I live within sight of Morecambe Bay. When the cockle picking disaster happened, quite a lot of people were asking how so many people could drown in the sea. Typical comments were "did they not realise the tide was coming in", "couldn't they wade to the shore" etc. These were local people, accustomed to seeing what looks like a huge flat "beach" when the tide is out. They simply didn't know about the channels (that fill behind you and cut you off) or the quicksands where you easily get stuck to your knees within seconds.

Last weekend, there was a group of kids "having fun" jumping off a canal bridge into the canal. If they'd seen the canal in January, when it had been drained for maintenance, they would have seen all the rocks, debris, shopping trolleys, bikes, etc that were dumped in it, and which the jumpers could easily have jumped straight onto as the canal is very shallow.

We need more of the "why" rather than the generic "don't".

It is awful there has been 6 deaths in Ireland throughout the good weather a mix of young boys, a mother saving her son, 2 men experienced swimmers it is awful.

Reighton Sands is well known for dangerous rip tides.

We were on holiday there in 1985 (I remember the year because it was the summer after the end of the miners strike and we managed to scrape some money together for a caravan after a very hard year or so) and two girls the same age as me got washed out to sea on a lilo.

Every single year there are tragedies like this and every single year there are warnings. There are signs at many bodies of water and there are memorials to previous drownings at a lot of them. I don't know what more they can do to be honest.

It's mainly young men who drown and a lot of them think they are invincible, that they know better and won't listen anyway.

I know what you mean exactly. It’s something the British public need to be better educated. I know from swimming in my parents river in Scotland how deceptively cold the water is, it literally takes your breath away. I do the enter inch by inch to get used to it and splash my face with the cold water. But I don’t know what to do with a rip tide, will go and research it. How do you know it’s a tip tide and not a strong current? I’d imagine you’d try and float the best you can and attract attention but not fight it.

I’ve witnessed someone with cold water shock - after just 9 minutes in a wild swimming spot as part of an organised swim. Had she been on her own she’d have been in real trouble, and this was in a fairly shallow, easy exit, waterfall rock pool. It’s very easily done.

You’re totally right, they need to report on the why and how but people also need to take some personal responsibility. When we first visited Cornwall I researches which beaches were best, which were manned with lifeguards, how to spot a rip tide and what to do if you’re caught in one.

I read so often on here that it's OK that a child or adult is sea swimming as they are strong swimmers. What this means is they are confident in a pool, this leads to people not giving enough respect to the water. If you saw me in a pool you'd think I was strong, but I know in the sea I am nothing. I wear a life jacket every time I go out on the water that doesn't have a lifeguard and will only swim without one between the lifeguards flags.
It is so easy to get swept in a rip tide, and even if you are aware you need to swim parallel to the shore to get out of it the width can be considerable and you can be a long way from shore, and if the tide is against you it is exhausting.
As a pp said cold water shock is also a real problem, people (especially 'strong swimmers ') try and swim to save themselves but it is impossible, the only chance is to float.
Finally no water is the same, you need to know the area you are swimming in, often deaths are from holidaymakers as the sea doesn't behave the same as their local beach.

As an island nation it should be taught in schools, teaching water saftey in PE would be more beneficial than netball.

I sound cold but I am so very sorry for the families of the lives lost. I'm currently involved in a search for someone, it's not the first time and sadly will not be the last but it is absolutely heartbreaking

We live near the Thames and every year there are drownings. Normally teenage boys unfortunately.
We have an amazing swimming coach locally who is giving free water safety lessons. I also signed a petition recently to get this taught in schools.

I learnt so much. What to do for cold water shock: float on back, make a star shape, don’t panic. My boys had the fear of god put in them about jumping off bridges (guy was impaled on a spike). They got told they never know what is in the river/under the surface. And so much more. I hope they do start teaching this more at school.

I think a lot of people who are not habitual beach users know what a rip current/rip tide looks like, and because it in fact looks like a nice calm stretch of water amongst the waves at a beach, will deliberately swim there.

(A rip current is a stretch of water where the current is running strongly offshore. As the water is running the opposite direction to the incoming waves it looks entirely flat and like a good spot to swim - see the picture below, where the red arrows point to the rip. If caught in one, don’t try to swim to shore - swim parallel to the beach until you are back in the waves, and then swim in)

There’s a thread about water safety here with similar thoughts:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4306806-to-mention-some-water-safety-issues-we-all-need-to-know

I've noticed a pattern, in that most of the deaths involving children seem to happen towards the end of the summer holidays. Perhaps some parents run out of steam/patience by that time, so are less vigilent about supervising their children? I think 6 weeks is a long time to cope with full time childcare, especially for single parents and/or those whose children have special needs/behavioural problems. Maybe 4 weeks would work better, with longer easter and Christmas holidays?

I agree that more education about the nature of hazards and survival strategy is more useful than a blanket don't.

I'm getting into open water swimming, but at a centre with life guarding and appropriate equipment. I might be a strong swimmer, but that's limited use against cold water shock, currents and debris. The local river is a total no-go with strong currents, steep banks restricting escape, sewerage plants, weirs and debris. That hasn't stopped people from drowing in it in recent weeks, some certainly only intending a swim.

Swimming avaliability is also still poor.
Our usual pool has 2 hours a week of casual family swimming avaliable until they switch to the holiday timetable on 1st Aug.
Must be pre-booked.
Nearest pool is at 1/3 capacity due to poor building condition. Even without Covid restrictions, we still end up driving off 45 mins into the next county to get to a decent pool for fun.

14 yr old boy died at a beauty spot local to me yesterday. He's the same age as my daughter.
Heartbreaking.

I went swimming in Ullswater as part of an Outward Bound course. Full wetsuit, buoyancy aid, decent swimmer. I waded in slowly, got fully wet, ducked my head under, all as instructed.

Then we were allowed to jump off the jetty. It's not very high, and I'm quite light so didn't even go as deep as my head as my BA pulled me up. I still panicked with the cold shock, forgot how to breathe or swim, and had to be yelled at to float and calm down. Once I did that, I had a lovely time, but the first minute was horrible. It could have ended so badly if I had been alone, not had a BA, been unable to float.

I'm now very wary of any wild water deeper than a puddle unless kitted up and supervised.

I swim a lot in reservoirs and the sea. I know plenty who do so all year but that’s not for me unless kitted out properly. Most deaths are not from the most likely members of this crowd. We are older, risk averse and likely to arrange meet ups while risk assessing all swims. The reservoirs don’t want us and chase us off and being a largely agreeable group we go. The teens don’t. They argue back but are now left alone after the patrol goes so there is no mum or dad figure left to point out that they are at the dangerous part, if they move around there are fewer hazards and a better exit and entrance.

We need more swimming using the safer swimming knowledge and practises of those with experience. We need better signage around beaches and reservoirs that don’t just say no swimming or no life guard. We need people to understand the difference between life vests and floatation aids and to plan to end up in water if they get on a boat.

I've fallen out of a canoe wearing a life vest. Started hyperventilating and panicking from the cold water shock. DH had to drag me out. I consider myself a good swimmer (better than DH) and comfortable in water but my body overrode my head. Most people, even good swimmers, simply don't understand the risks.