This Spring Break Pack Common Sense for the Beach

May 9, 2006

Contact: Christina S. Johnson, csjohnson@ucsd.edu, 858-822-5334

DON'T DRINK AND SWIM

California Sea Grant educator Pamela Tom (right) confers with Lori Randall and Mario Pineda Vergara during an April 2006 train-the-trainer course offered in Dallas, Texas. Thirty-one participants from nine countries learned about seafood safety management procedures. Credit: Jon Bell (Louisiana State University Sea Grant Seafood Specialist)

College students, this spring break, don’t forget to pack your sun block – and some common sense. Beaches are fun, but they can also be dangerous, especially if you’ve been drinking. Every year, many people drown because they can’t swim, or can’t swim drunk – or a little bit of both.

California Sea Grant wants you to know the ocean can be a dangerous place. It can easily lull you into a false sense of security. Alcohol can intensify this effect, and increase your chances of falling prey to your own poor judgment and to the ocean’s power. Don’t drink and swim, or surf. They don’t mix. “A quick dip” is a dumb way to try to sober up.

Rip currents are also a danger to swimmers. NOAA's National Weather Service, the National Sea Grant Program and the United States Lifesaving Association are partners in public awareness campaign, “Break the Grip of the Rip,” to reduce drownings caused by rip currents.

Why? The United States Lifesaving Association estimates that the annual number of deaths due to rip currents on our nation's beaches exceeds 100. Rip currents account for more than 80 percent of rescues performed by surf beach lifeguards.

Alcohol is often a factor in rescues and drownings.

If you get caught in a rip current, the US Lifesaving Association recommends the following:

• Remain calm
• Don’t fight against the rip current by trying to swim straight to shore
• Escape by swimming in a direction following the shoreline, perpendicular to the rip current
• If you feel you will be unable to reach shore, draw attention to yourself — face the shore and call or wave for help

For more information about rip currents, visit: www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov.

To download a free rip currents sign, visit: www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/signs-brochures.shtml.

NOAA's California Sea Grant is a statewide, multi-university program of marine research, extension services, and education activities. It is the largest of the nation's 30 Sea Grant programs and is headquartered at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. The National Sea Grant College Program is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce.