Editorial

Stay safe in and around the water this summer

Posted

Public and private pools are busy all over Long Island’s South Shore, and the Atlantic Ocean is finally warm enough for comfortable swimming. In any of those settings, an emphasis on safety will help make your aquatic outings more relaxed and fun.

First of all, learn to swim, no matter your age. Children as young as 5 or 6 are easily taught to move adeptly in deep water, and there are so wide a variety of classes, group or individual, offered by Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead and free-ranging Red Cross-certified instructors that even adults with a lifelong fear of the water can learn. Check with your local pool or fitness center.

Like the experts they may become, beginning swimmers learn the first rule around any body of water: never swim alone. No matter your skill, a swim can turn into a panicked struggle to survive with, say, a sudden severe cramp. If not accompanied into the water, swimmers should be watched from the pool deck or shore.

Given the popularity of backyard pools in places like Long Island, it’s no wonder the laws governing them have grown stricter. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that 75 percent of the nearly 400 children younger than 15 who drown in pools or spas each year in this country die at private residences. A backyard pool in Nassau County or the Town of Hempstead must be surrounded by a fence at least 5 feet high with latching gates, and New York state law requires an alarm that detects motion anywhere on the pool’s surface.

If you’re a guest at a neighborhood pool party (drinks, anyone?), look around, just in case, for anything like a leaf skimmer or a rake that could be extended to a struggling swimmer. If you’re in charge of a group of kids, have them pair up before they jump in, and pause the fun from time to time with buddy checks, when the pairs must clasp hands aloft. And you’ll be all the more prepared if you learn the basics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, which you can do in a single three-hour class.

At most public pools you’ll see guards sitting on their stands with red rescue tubes across their laps. Over the years, reaching for distressed swimmers with shepherd’s crooks and throwing them ring buoys with lines attached has been de-emphasized in lifeguard training, and most guards are now true rescue swimmers, taught to jump in and grab anyone who gets in trouble.

But no matter how many guards you see, keep an eye on your kids as they swim. A crowded pool is a challenge for guards, who must continuously sweep the water with their eyes. And this may be the very first job for many of them, who are still getting used to the idea that they are responsible for patrons’ lives. If you see a lifeguard who’s easily distracted, let the head lifeguard or the pool manager know.

At the ocean, safety risks are magnified by varying conditions of waves and tides. Swim only where lifeguards are on duty — areas usually marked by red and green flags — and ask whether there are any rip currents, or whether they may develop as the day goes on and the tide changes. When waves, small or large, are pounding the beach, the voluminous runoff often divides into fast-moving columns of water flowing directly out to sea, creating telltale brown water by churning up the sandy bottom and rendering even the strongest swimmers helpless with their power.

You’ll know a rip current when you swim or float into one, because you’ll suddenly be sucked in the wrong direction — just one of a rip’s rude nicknames among ocean guards is a suck. Don’t panic or try to fight your way to shore, because both reactions will cost you precious energy. Instead, swim parallel to the beach, where you’ll move out of the rip into calmer water.

By that point you’ll likely be pleasantly startled by a lifeguard stroking her way toward you and handing you a rescue buoy. She’s been looking for swimmers in your predicament all day, and the second the rip grabbed you, she whistled and came running. Guards might not accept tips for saving lives, but they often accept heartfelt thanks.