Tips on how to swim safely in sea

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Tips on how to swim safely in sea I’m alarmed by the fact that there a no lifeguards along Jumeirah Beach on the strip next to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and The Burj Al Arab. I was at the beach recently and was told of three separate incidents of swimmers getting into serious difficulty due to the rip currents and were rescued by those luckily enough to see them. Rip tides kill and drowning in the water is one of the highest causes of accidental deaths in the UAE after road incidents. At this time of year when stronger winds prevail, waves become larger and initially entering the water seems appealing, especially when the weather is at its best. I, myself became stuck in a riptide only a few feet from the shore, but managed to rescue myself by not panicking. For those of you who do not know how a rip tide is formed or how to get out of one, please let me inform you as this will save your life. Rip currents form when waves break near the shoreline, piling up water between the breaking waves and the beach. One of the ways this water returns to sea is to form a rip current, a narrow stream of water moving swiftly away from shore, often perpendicular to the shoreline. How swimmers usually get stuck is when the see large waves in the water and they enter the sea to jump the incoming waves. Soon, they can be caught in a rip tide which takes them away from the shore. The natural instinct when being taken out to sea by a strong current is to swim back in the same way you came. By doing this you are caught in the rip tide and no matter how hard you swim, you’re not physically moving back towards the shore. Its similar to running on a read mill i.e. no matter how fast you run, you’ll still stay in the same physical position. When this happens in the sea you use up energy quickly and with the waves constantly pounding your head, very quickly you’ll panic, use the last remaining energy to shout / wave for help. But, if no one reaches you (or sees you) quickly enough, you’ll drown. The correct way to exit a rip current is to move along the shoreline and find an alternate entry point back into the shoreline. Sounds simple enough I know, but when you’re in a rip current its very easy to panic and forget this simple step. The natural survival instinct is to swim back to the shore the same way. Along with no lifeguards along this stretch of water, the swimming flags remained yellow indicating that the sea was safe to swim in. Jumeriah Beach is popular with both holiday makers and residents and it would be a shame if bathers drowned when something could be done to prevent it. Jason Bowman, Scuba Diver and Resident of Dubai Read the original story at: Tips on how to swim safely in sea