Event Stresses a Day at Beach Holds Danger

When Chris McAleer took the podium to address more than 500 lifeguards, he had their undivided attention.

Paralyzed in a surfing accident last summer at Newport Beach, McAleer, 24, spoke from his wheelchair to remind his audience at Orange Coast College Tuesday night of their tremendous responsibility.

“I remember being face down in the water and not being able to move and hoping somebody would see me,” he said. McAleer credited a vigilant Newport Beach lifeguard with saving his life.

Tragedies like McAleer’s happen every year, all along California’s long coastline, according to Project Wipeout, a Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian panel devoted to ensuring beach safety. Most of those injuries occur in the summer when the beaches are most crowded, statistics show.

More than 250 swimmers and surfers have suffered spinal cord injuries in beach accidents in Huntington Beach alone in the last 20 years, according to Project Wipeout, which organized Tuesday’s event to help increase public awareness of seaside safety.

Each year, before the peak of the season, Project Wipeout gives a one-night refresher course for lifeguards on the proper methods for rescuing swimmers and surfers who may have injured their backs and necks.

“It’s important to know the proper techniques because, if you don’t, you can hurt them even more,” said Bryan Walker, 23, a Huntington Beach lifeguard who is a seven-year veteran of the beach patrol.

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10 Tips for Surf Safety

Project Wipeout’s goal is to eliminate beach accidents caused by carelessness and to educate safety personnel as well as the public about the hazards. Some of the project’s suggestions:

1. Learn to swim. If you can’t swim an overhead stroke for at least 15 minutes, you should not be in the ocean.

2. Never swim alone, and swim near a lifeguard whenever possible.

3. Check with a lifeguard to find out where shallow and deep areas are. Do not assume the ocean floor has an even bottom or that the depth you knew yesterday or even an hour before is the same. The ocean floor is constantly shifting.

4. Don’t run from the beach into the water and dive headfirst into the waves. Sandbars may be hidden below the surface, or the water may be shallow.

5. Don’t jump or dive into the water from a pier or jetty. From that vantage point, water often appears much deeper than it is. Diving in could be fatal.

6. If you’re bodysurfing or using a bodyboard, always keep your arms in front of you to protect your head and neck.

7. Stay out of the “surf zone,” where the waves break. Their force is greatest there, and even a small wave can slam you into the sand. Avoid danger by ducking under the wave and not trying to catch it too late.

8. If you are pulled out to sea by a rip current, don’t panic--the tide will not pull you under. Swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the rip, then swim to shore.

9. If you are in trouble, call or wave for help.

10. Never drink alcoholic beverages or use drugs at the beach.

Source: Project Wipeout