Reducing the Risk : Swimming: With summer approaching, aquatics directors urge parents to enroll children in classes planned throughout the county.

As the summer heat rises and more Ventura County residents dip into pools, lakes and the Pacific to cool off, safety experts say the risk of drowning rises as well.

And as schools let out and more children head for the water, aquatics directors all over the county are preparing to teach thousands of youngsters and adults how to swim safely.

Unlocked gates and unguarded swimming pools can prove just as deadly as ocean riptides to young children, said Carol Becker of the American Red Cross, pointing to the case of a 4-year-old Simi Valley boy who nearly drowned Sunday in a neighbor’s pool.

Swimming lessons, she said, are the best protection.

Joshua Smith, 4, remained unconscious Monday afternoon in a Los Angeles pediatric intensive care unit, where he was taken after being found at the bottom of the pool. His condition had been upgraded from critical to fair, said a spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center.

“It’s really important to have people sign their kids up for swimming lessons,” Becker said Monday. “The important thing is if you have a home pool, learn lifesaving skills and CPR, and don’t leave children unattended.”

In coming weeks, swimming instructors across Ventura County will offer to teach basic swimming skills to children as young as 4 months, for an average of about $35 a course.

Dive in now, though.

The pools are filling up fast--from one-on-one private lessons in back-yard swim clubs to the classes that will school some 500 to 600 budding swimmers this summer at the Rancho Simi Parks and Recreation District in Simi Valley.

“We get tons” of young students, said Teri Rockhold, aquatics specialist for the Conejo Recreation and Park District in Thousand Oaks. “A lot of them have parents that can’t swim. It happens more than you’d think. They’re concerned about their own fear of the water, so they want to get their kids right in.”

In Ventura, “the phone’s just been ringing off the hook--there’s been a steady influx of calls from 8 to 5,” said Andrea Windle, spokeswoman for the city’s swimming program. “Our classes are growing year by year.”

Common sense is important, too, even among experienced swimmers, safety experts said.

Most important, beach-goers should watch for rip currents, keep an eye on their children and swim near lifeguard stations when possible, they said.

“If you’ve got a young kid, and they’re not real comfortable with their ability to swim in the ocean, I wouldn’t let them go out alone,” said C.L. Price, lifeguard supervisor at San Buenaventura State Beach.

Parents also should watch for rip currents--devilishly strong sea tides that, under certain conditions, push unwary bathers straight out toward deep water.

“Rip currents are identified by a kind of brown, choppy water with foam on top--that is where the danger is,” said Erik Bear, lifeguard supervisor for the city of Port Hueneme. “If you are caught in one, the best thing to do is to relax and swim sideways until you are out of the choppy water.”

A full complement of lifeguards will be watching bathers on Ventura County’s coastline from Port Hueneme to Carpinteria this summer, beginning around June 20, officials said. So far, there have been no cutbacks in lifeguard staffing.

A total of 18 lifeguards will be watching county-run beaches in Oxnard--including Hollywood Beach, Silver Strand Beach and Harbor Beach--from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., said Jack L. Peveler, the Ventura County Harbor captain. An additional lifeguard will patrol the beach in a mobile unit, he said.

At Port Hueneme’s mile-long beach, 14 lifeguards will work this summer beginning June 11, patrolling the waterline from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

Starting June 19, the California Department of Recreation will station two to three lifeguards per day at Harbor Cove in Ventura, two at McGrath State Beach, eight on Buenaventura State Beach, one at Emma Wood Beach and five at Carpinteria, said Price, lifeguard supervisor at San Buenaventura.

On Monday, two families were already taking a careful dip at the unguarded section of the state beach near the Ventura Pier.

While Bill Foote of Tulsa, Okla., sunbathed, his wife, Debbi, kept an eye on their children, ages 8 to 11.

“He lays down and I watch the kids,” Debbi Foote said. “And then we switch.”

Nearby, Kristin Hall, a former lifeguard from Ventura, watched her sons Trevor, 3, and Jacob, 5, playing at the water’s edge.

“It just takes a split second for something to happen,” she said. “Especially at the beach.”

Times staff writer Christina Lima and Times correspondent Scott Hadly contributed to this story.

Water Safety Tips

Parents can help protect their children from tragedy in the water by teaching them to swim, safety officials say, as well as taking a few simple safety precautions:

Swimming Pools

* Install child-proof fencing around back-yard pools.

* Learn lifesaving and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) techniques.

* Always have an adult who can swim watching over the children.

The Ocean

* Swim near a lifeguard station.

* Ask the lifeguard about water conditions.

* Don’t let children swim in surf that is too strong for them.

* If caught in a rip current, swim parallel to the shore--usually about 30 yards--until it eases and you can swim toward shore again. If you have a flotation device, hang onto it.

Sources: American Red Cross, California Department of Recreation