Corky Carroll: Annual summer beach survival guide — Part 2
Last week, we touched upon some of the perils of a day at the beach — protecting yourself from the sun, staying hydrated and making it home without becoming a piece of fried bacon.
This week, in part two of our annual summer beach survival guide, I want to go into some if the issues that you will need to deal with once you set foot into the ocean. This is aimed at those of you who are new to going to the beach and new to dealing with the Pacific Ocean. This thing is nothing like a big lake or a swimming pool — it has a mind of its own and can be extremely moody when it wants to be.
First off, let’s talk about the ocean itself.
Depending on the swell and surf conditions, there are currents. The more surf and the bigger the swell, the stronger the currents. Even on days when the surf is tiny there are still currents.
Generally speaking, the currents are going the same direction as the swell. If we are looking at a south swell, as is normal in the summer, the direction of the current will be going from the south toward the north. (There are some who want to tell you the coast goes east and west, but I am not one of them.)
You can jump in the water and without even knowing it be 100 yards up the beach in a few minutes. The dangerous part of this, besides losing track of where you are, is that these currents turn and go out to sea. This is called a “rip.” Once you are stuck in one of these it’s not easy to get out. You need to swim sideways, toward the north side, to get out of the river heading out to sea. Then swim back to the beach. Do not try to swim against the current — you will wear out and then you have an even more serious problem.
We always tell people to stay near the lifeguard towers. No matter how good of a swimmer you are, if you are not experienced in being in the ocean, you can get in trouble very quickly. If the surf is big, the best idea is to have fun watching it and stay out.
Then we have the sea life.
The ocean is a whole other world and home to all kinds of life. Sometimes I think of it as being another planet when you get underwater.
You don’t really need to worry about most of the fish — they are cool and will swim away from you. But there are a few critters that you might come across that are not all that friendly. The most common along our shores are stingrays and jellyfish.
Stingrays like to hang out in the warm shallow waters close to the beach. This is all good unless you step on one of them. If you do they will sting you and there is one solid fact I can tell you about that: It hurts. It hurts enough to make adults cry and call for their mamas, enough to make little kids say words they don’t even know, enough to totally ruin the next couple of hours of your life. It’s not serious, but it’s painful.
If this happens, you need to get your foot, or wherever the sting is, into water as hot as you can stand, as quickly as you can. You need to keep heating the water. This lessens the pain and makes it go away quicker. The normal deal is about two hours, then you are fine.
For a jellyfish sting you need to scrub the area with anything that will get the slime left from the jellyfish off of you as soon as you can. Wet sand works great. Or surf wax. If you have a bar of wax (for surfers) this works just fine. Whatever you can find to clean the spot will be good, just do it as soon as you can or it will leave a welt. It’s kind of an itchy, burning irritation.
The stingray sting is more like the kind of pain of a bad toothache. Neither are fun, but the stingray is way worse.
Sharks? Well, they have become more of an issue recently, but in general they are still pretty rare in our waters. They are there though. If you get chomped by one you are probably toast, but maybe not.
OK, I hope that helps you survive your time at the beach. Remember to try to use common sense and you will probably be OK.
Ask the expert
Q. I started surfing about four months ago and am struggling to get to my feet. I get one foot up, the front one, and then get stuck on one foot and one knee. I just can’t seem to get off of that back knee. Do you have any suggestions as to how to fix this so I can progress?
Larry Applegate, Sunset Beach
A. This happens to some people and it can be a real problem if it becomes a habit. After four months its sounds like it has, so it needs to be addressed now and not let continue. What I am guessing, and this seems to be the way this thing always goes, is that once you get the front foot up and are still on the back knee you let go of the board and try to get off the back knee without using any hands. This is not uncommon, but it is a bad mistake.
What you need to do is practice popping up to your feet, both of them, without getting on your knees at all. Do this on land over and over. Then start doing it in the water when you go to stand up. Do not let yourself get on that back knee, both feet up. They call it a “pop up” because that is exactly what you do.
Best thing would be get some help from a good qualified surf instructor. If you don’t cure this now it will be harder and harder as you go along. Good luck.