To mention some water safety issues we all need to know?

[Northernlurker]

Having read of some awful tragedies over the weekend with open water I thought I would start a thread with a few points and others can add. Because not everybody has had the same exposure to open water risks so what is common sense to one person is utterly unknown to others.

Open water in the UK is cold. Really cold. Even on sunny days. The deeper you go, the colder. This can take even fit and well people by surprise.

Don't jump in to unknown water ever. We are a rocky country populated by messy people. Water hides rocks, logs, metal and all manner of hazards.

Piers and jetty lead out from the shore to deep water so boats can be accessed. Don't regard them as an extension of the shore. The water will be both deep and cold.

Swim parallel to the shore, not out to sea.

No inflatables in the sea ever.

Tides move faster than you can walk, know what your exit route is.

If you can't swim, don't go out of your depth. Don't try and help people in trouble. You help just as much by fetching help or fetching items people in the water can hold on to.

Make sure your teenagers know these principles.

And remember 'float to live'

@Jobseeker19

My son age 10 has never had swimming lessons in school.

I think that is shocking. His school are raising generations of children who cannot swim.

I understood that swimming lessons are part of the curriculum in England, not sure about the rest of the world. Can your DS swim?

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow

never swim in open water

Come off it. Let's all sit on our arses and die of obesity and diabetes, then.

50% of UK drownings are people who never meant to enter the water, e.g they have fallen in.

33% of drownings are related to alcohol use.

Obviously these two groups overlap but, even allowing for that, most people who drown are not intentionally swimming. The number of sober people in the UK who drown while intentionally swimming for exercise is very small.

Open water swimming, done sensibly, is fantastic for exercise and mental health. Like many sports - cycling, riding, rugby etc - it carries a small element of risk. That risk can be reduced but not eliminated. That doesn't mean we should stop swimming.

@MissLycyEyelesbarrow. The general public are advised to not just jump in to open water.

Those of us who do triathlons do so in a group or with a coach. I wouldn't even go open water swimming on my own and I've done a ironman.

Both my kids had at most a year of swimming lessons at primary school - half an hour per week. They learnt to swim outside of school. At least half their class couldn't swim. It's not a surprise, no one is going to learn from half an hour once a week!

Never use inflatables in the sea. I live near the coast and am shocked at the people in the water on inflatables.
Familiarise yourself with the beach and know where the lifebuoys are. If theres any.
Lochs are freezing. Even if you area strong swimmer the cold may make it impossible.

Can I just extend the advice to the beach please. Specifically digging holes. It seems like a fun activity to dig a massive hole but they are really dangerous and can collapse at any time. Or someone could fall into it. www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2021-06-30/warning-after-massive-life-threatening-holes-dug-on-devon-beach

Oh and dont try and rescue you body board, Inflatable etc etc if it floats out on the tide.

Is it safe to let kids who can’t swim very well go in the sea? I tell them to stay waist high and keep an eye on them from the near shore (but not constantly watching). Ages 11-5. I check there’s no sudden drops in depth before hand.

And of course, do not leave disposable bbqs or try to bury them in sand. . They can burn feet

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow Aussie here - well part. I understood the higher drowning rate was due to toddlers and young children having access to unfenced / unalarmed pools (often in a neighbouring garden) and farm reservoirs / ponds.

I absolutely agree that the UK approach is wrong, and utterly terrifying.

@NoYOUbekind

When I was little, the local pool was an outdoor one fed by the tides - North Sea, so freezing. I had just learned to swim and was confident in the normal indoor pool, so I jumped in the deep end. Got cold water shock, nearly drowned, never forgot it.

Anyway. My advice is be the boring one. Never drink alcohol before you go in the water. Don't assume the people you're with haven't drunk alcohol or are at all sensible. Use a floatation device. And while I absolutely agree with the pov about teaching children proper water safety, if you have a quarry near you then that all goes out of the window - put the fear of death into them about quarry swimming.

Totally agree with all you have said here.

Great idea for a thread.

I think people really underestimate the affect of the cold water. Especially in really nice weather like we have had. Think the assumption is the water won't be that cold. Forgetting that really hot weather here is usually short lived and doesn't heat up the water like it does abroad.

I did lifesaving classes when I was a teenager, and they really hammered home the point about never ever get in the water after a few drinks as you lose the ability to accurately judge the water temperature.

We live near a loch where teenagers (and older) love to go for a few drinks and a swim. My teenager isn't interested in that, but I've discussed the issues with drinking and swimming so he understands.

Same with tides etc at the sea.

Swimming in disused quarries gives me the fear. Am thankful there are not any close by here. Can think of nothing worse - god only knows what's in there.

@Franklyfrost - no that is stupidly dangerous, you need to be next to them and watching constantly.

@Franklyfrost

Is it safe to let kids who can’t swim very well go in the sea? I tell them to stay waist high and keep an eye on them from the near shore (but not constantly watching). Ages 11-5. I check there’s no sudden drops in depth before hand.

I'd leave them paddle so up to their knees but not waste high, all it can take is a wave to knock them back/drag them under and suddenly in the panic to return to the surface they may come back up shoulder height or deeper.

They are not following the curriculum, everytime I ask they say next year this is Bevington Primary school in RBKC. My son cannot swim.
I have taken him swimming a few times but I do not have the time or skill to teach him to swim.

The local leisure centre doesn't have spaces for his age group.

Hopefully he will learn in secondary school or as an adult.

[quote undermycatsthumb]@WiddlinDiddlin Thankyou, very sensible post. There's some excellent advice on this thread but there's also a really unhelpful undertone of hysteria. The driving analogy made by a previous poster is a very good one.

We are so lucky in the UK to have so much wonderful coast, so many rivers and lakes to enjoy. People absolutely need to be educated on safe swimming - and again there has been some brilliant advice here - but it's so unhelpful to talk about never letting DC swim here or there. Learn how to do it safely yourself, then teach them so that when they're not with you, they are capable.[/quote]
You can see on this thread, and many like it, how people massively over-estimate certain risks and under-estimate others. Kids are far more likely to die early from lack of exercise and obesity than they are from any mainstream sport, including swimming. But, because those deaths aren't dramatic accidents that launch the RNLI and get headlines, they are somehow discounted.

Very few people drown when swimming intentionally (i.e. haven't fallen in/had a boat capsize etc) and while sober.

@MrsSkylerWhite No, if people cannot swim they should not even be paddling in open water. It is so, so dangerous.

Someone has already mentioned about labelling any equipment- paddle boards, kayaks etc.
Here's a link to free labels, supplied by the Coastguard. They don't want to waste valuable time searching for you in water if it's just a case that your kayak wasn't securely tied up.

If you're at the coast teach your children how to recognise wind direction, look at the beach flags to see if it's an on-shore or off-shore wind, and how to tell if the tide's coming in or out by checking the sand.

If you're thinking about going in the sea and there's a RNLI station nearby, go and have a chat. They'd much rather spend ten minutes discussing local tides and currents with you while you're on dry land than have to meet you on a shout.

Not safe at all, franky. Imagine one of them gets hit by a large wave and knocked over. So they’re under the water. Then as that wave goes out, it tumbles them and drags them deeper. Then they’re out of their depth.

@MissLycyEyelesbarrow. The general public are advised to not just jump in to open water. Those of us who do triathlons do so in a group or with a coach. I wouldn't even go open water swimming on my own and I've done a ironman

I didn't say anyone should jump in or swim alone. I was responding to a PP saying never swim in open water. That's ridiculous.

@Northernlurker
Thanks, the wave explanation makes sense.

@Florabelle yes - really important to know that if you are attempting to help someone in the water never swim up to their face. Always approach from behind, and place your arm under their face/around their neck. Ideally you should swim on your back with them laying on their back too. I'm sure a more experienced life guard will explain the technique better than I can. My dads rescue of us was really messy, one child under each arm and he just dragged us as best he could!

I will never forget the sweet relief of feeling the shingle under my toes again.

If you are doing water sports wear a life jacket or buoyancy aid.

I sail and the number of people without is huge, especially on ribs. Where I am the tide is fierce and the water cold. Even if the outside temp feels like the med the water doesn't.

Its been said but can't be repeated often enough - if at the coast look up the tide times and do not walk far out, when the tide comes in it circles round very quickly, very easily cutting you off.

Good advice too upthread re keeping dogs on leads where there is a drop into the sea or water. Three policeman and a holidaymaker drowned on our coast years ago trying to rescue the visitor from the sea who had gone in after his dog jumped over the wall.

@User5827372728

There was a primary school trip today at Bournemouth beach and 2 teachers must have had about 20 7 year olds in the sea! Really surprised me

That’s shocking, my DD’s have been in trios to the beach and the school have not allowed them to go in the water due to health and safety, even my 6 former went a couple weeks ago and was not allowed in the sea. Sadly there was a big incident in Dorset today and one person (a 18 year old lad) is still unaccounted for .

Some greats points on here. Every single year some youngster drowns. It’s usually teenage lads. As a young Police officer I went to the drowning of a young lad who had gone to swim with his friends in a local lake. He was 15. It was horrific having to go and tell his mum and then take her to the scene. Thirty years later I still think of him whenever I go to that lake.

Do not get in water after you have been drinking. Many of the deaths this summer have been alcohol related to be fair.