AIBU - to say rip currents can get you in shallow water and body boards are actually quite dangerous

[Tillylovestomatoes]

So whenever I’ve heard about people getting into trouble at the beach I’ve always assumed it was either unsupervised kids or people swimming / surfing in deep water. I never thought anything like that could happen to me and my family because we always stayed in shallow water close to shore. I thought body boarding in the shallows was safe, especially when the tide was coming in, so me and the kids would paddle out to about thigh height, get on our boards and let the waves bring us back to shore. Unfortunately we were doing just that when we got pulled into a rip current and carried out to sea.

Rip currents can travel up to 2m per second and can pull you out the length of a football pitch in the space of 1 minute. You don’t even realise it’s happening until you suddenly see the beach looking very far away.

By the time I realised something was wrong and leapt off my board to test the water depth - I was up to my neck in water. I grabbed the kids and tried to wade back holding them above the water but the current was too strong and just kept pushing us back even further until the water started coming over my head. I had to scream for the kids to swim. Luckily, they are both good swimmers because we’d lost our boards in the panic. The boards should have been attached to our arms but the Velcro straps were rubbish and always came undone.

I swam to get the boards back and managed to grab two of them but by that time my kids had drifted further away. They were swimming on their backs by this point but I found it hard to catch them up and get back to them. The sight of them in the deep open water will haunt me for the rest of my life. Even though it was only a few metres they have never seemed to far away and out of reach. I really didn’t think we were going to make it.

We were incredibly fortunate that day because we had positioned ourselves near a local surf school which had trained life guards working for them and they came to rescue us. If we’d been on a more isolated beach then I dread to think what could have happened. We didn’t see any flags or signs to indicate any danger and we hadn’t managed to spot anything untoward from the shore. The beach we were on only had a voluntary life guard presence at weekends so lots of scope for accidents to happen for people like me not fully understanding the risks.

Prior to this, I’d heard of rip currents but didn’t know how common they were. I also didn’t know that they could pull you out from shallow water or really understand how quickly they could pull you in. (Apparently a rip current on the same beach had previously pulled in a horse and rider cantering along the shoreline). I had also thought body boarding in shallow water with me present was relatively safe. I was very wrong and would hate any other families to make the same mistake. I for one will never get on a body board again but I see so many people using them on social media. So AIBU to highlight that rip currents very much can get you in the shallow water and that body boarding might not be as safe as you think it is?

Please take care x

Have name changed as I haven’t been able to talk about this to anyone in RL yet. Am still too upset but wanted to highlight dangers for others before the bank holiday.

Only swim where there are trained lifeguards in the pool or on the beach. Read the signs and obey the flags. If you can't swim properly you need a flotation device to be in the sea.

Never swim on an isolated beach with no body guards.

My daughter surfs and I only ever allow her out with an instructor, even though she’s a confident and competent surfer. From a young age they have taught her to always pick a reference point on the beach & always come back to that point as before you know it you’re far down the beach. I don’t surf anyway but I’d never go in with her as I keep my eye on her at all times. It’s so dangerous in the sea. Also people are clueless. I see some dreadful sights. No idea what the flags mean, no idea the tide is coming in etc etc. Taking toddlers into the surf area to paddle.

Icedncerlenny that’s a good tip about the fixed reference point. My reference point had been my husband which helped in knowing proximity to shore but he was walking up and down a lot because he was throwing the ball for the dog so harder to get a sense of position along the shoreline. I won’t be going in the sea again tbh but that might help others if they do still choose to. And definitely a sensible idea to stick to places with instructors or lifeguards.

Yeah they are fatal and sometimes come out of no where.
When I was in USA with my then boyfriend and our friend, we stupidly avoided paying the small beach charge by going on the beach after the lifeguard has gone. Stupid but we didn't know better as teens.

We had little body boards and the boys were literally knee deep when a rip tide hit us. My boyfriend and friend were swept further and further out to sea. I had been ankle deep and had been knocked down by a wave so had been taking a breather out of the sea. I ended up having to call 911 to get them saved.
All because we didn't even understand the importance of the lifeguards. That was a harsh lesson we learnt that day.

Firstly I hope are feeling OK. That experience sounds terrifying.

Watersports, swimming etc are a lot of fun. However I do think there has to be more education about water safety... anyone can buy a kayak, paddleboard, body board, etc, take it out on the sea or lake and have no idea what to do with it. Most of the time, they muddle through and its fine. Some times its disastrous.

I had my first try on a paddleboard today. I'm glad I had an experienced person showing me what to do. We were also on a regulated lake and had to pay a launch fee. (I've been canoeing for quite a while, had my own safety gear etc). But lots buy a cheap board and head out on the sea by themselves. Its sort of encouraged online as 'its so easy.

We need to respect the sea.

Aroundtheworldin80moves ironically I was going to book some surf lessons for the kids instead that day but my youngest said he’d prefer to stick with bodyboarding (which we’d fine previously without incident) because he didn’t want to go that deep. We’d thought bodyboarding together in the shallow water by the shore was the safer, easier option. We were very wrong.

A little boy in my sons friends class died age 6 in very similar circumstances on a beach in north Wales.

Absolute tragedy. I always had the heebie jeebies about letting my kids in the sea after that. So easy to drown