Seven people drowned over a two-day period this week along Baja California's sparsely guarded beaches, a tragedy that, had it occurred in the United
States, would have made national headlines.
The drownings included five at La Mision beach on Sunday. The next day, two more drowned at Playas when an American tourist attempted to save two
children caught in a rip current. After rescuing one of the youths, the exhausted good Samaritan drowned.
In an effort to prevent more deaths, 10 lifeguards from San Diego and Imperial Beach spent their day off yesterday guarding beaches south of the
U.S.-Mexico border.
They're part of a group of more than 50 professional lifeguards from Southern California who have volunteered to guard high-risk beaches along Baja's
65-mile-long "Gold Coast" between Playas de Tijuana and Ensenada.
Tijuana lifeguard and fireman Sergio Garcia welcomed the American volunteers yesterday as they gathered near the bullfighting ring in Playas to speak
to reporters standing inside the United States at Border Field State Park.
Tijuana's lifeguards are constantly on alert because so many beach visitors are poor swimmers and are ignorant of the perils of rip currents, Garcia
said.
On the weekend, when Playas' beaches are brimming with visitors, it's not unusual for each lifeguard to make up to 40 rescues per day, Garcia said.
That would be a rare occurrence in the United States.
Imperial Beach lifeguard Rich Hidalgo, 24, said he organized the volunteer effort because he couldn't accept the notion that people within view of his
lifeguard tower were dying in rip currents.
"It just kills me," Hidalgo said.
Using high-powered binoculars, Hidalgo can see the crowds at Playas from his lifeguard tower atop the Imperial Beach municipal pier, which is three
miles north of the border.
"We're doing this because we love lifeguarding," he said.
A sprawling city of 2 million people, Tijuana has just nine professionally trained lifeguards, who are also firefighters, and 24 civilian volunteers
to watch over thousands who flock to the beach at Playas.
A smattering of lifeguards are also on duty during weekends at popular tourist destinations such as Rosarito Beach and Ensenada. But dozens of
more-remote beaches are left unguarded.
Northern Baja California lifeguards "are doing a valiant job, but they are just overwhelmed," said Imperial Beach lifeguard Aaron Quintanar.
Fluent in Spanish, Quintanar serves as liaison between the U.S. volunteers and lifeguard officials in Baja California. Most of the volunteers have
limited Spanish skills.
Under an informal understanding, he said, lifeguards on either side of the border are allowed to cross into each other's countries to make rescues, as
long as the people rescued are returned to their country of origin.
People who attempt to illegally cross into the United States at Border Field State Park are at severe risk because the closest lifeguards are three
miles away at the Imperial Beach pier. Four people attempting to swim around the border fence into the U.S. drowned in a single incident last
February, said Greg Abbott, a state parks ecologist.
"Twenty to 30 people have drowned at Border Field State Park since the state stopped lifeguarding here in the early '80s," Abbott said.
In the first six months of 2004, 29 people drowned at beaches along the Pacific coast of Baja California's border zone, said Quintanar, who said the
statistics were given to him by Tijuana's lifeguard captain.
"Imagine that many people drowning on a stretch of coastline between Imperial Beach and Oceanside," he said. "The public would be outraged."Anonymous - 7-29-2005 at 05:39 PM
It's such a tragedy to see stuff like that happen.
People that aren't particularly knowledgeable about the surf zone are the first to panic and try to struggle against a much stronger ocean.
You have to realize which way the water is moving, and use that to transport you; it moves MUCH faster than you can swim.
Waves break in shallower areas, and the water piles up. It has to get back out somehow; usually in a bit deeper water. That is where the rip current
will form.
Surfers know this. When you want to go out, you jump in the rip.
When you want to come in, you go to where the waves are breaking and let them push you in.Dave - 7-29-2005 at 05:44 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Anonymous
On the weekend, when Playas' beaches are brimming with visitors, it's not unusual for each lifeguard to make up to 40 rescues per day, Garcia said.
That would be a rare occurrence in the United States.
Per day?
40?
Each lifeguard?
No Way!woody with a view - 7-29-2005 at 05:44 PM
Quote:
The drownings included five at La Mision beach on Sunday
surfed there last saturday and it was thumping. it wasn't a good day to be "playing" in the water....sad!TMW - 7-30-2005 at 10:02 AM
One of the biggest problems with people getting in the ocean is they don't know or understand how to escape a rip tide current. They want to fight it
and swim back to the beach head on, maybe from panic. If they would conserve their energy and swim with the current down the beach they can then work
their way back to the beach.
Andy Pack was up for anything, be it surfing, rock climbing, swing dancing -- or helping people in need
Friday, August 05, 2005
AMY MARTINEZ STARKE
Andy Pack was rarely still. After a week's work as a physical therapist at Mount Hood Medical Center, he was raring to go climbing at the Portland
Rock Gym, or hiking, camping, fly-fishing, or bike riding. He had the best gear of all his friends, and five bicycles. He had reached the summit of
Mount Rainier, had climbed Smith Rock, and had hiked all over the Columbia River Gorge, and Hurricane Ridge. He had the pictures to prove it.
If he wasn't on an outdoor adventure, he'd be out the door of his apartment near Providence Hospital to go swing dancing at the Norse Hall or the
North Star Ballroom. He took a swing dance class at Idaho State University, and as with most things he tried, it clicked.
During his quieter hours, he liked to check out the laughs on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "Simpsons" or "Mad TV," or listen to CDs of the Young
Dubliners or the Slackers, a reggae ska band with a New York accent.
Or he studied Spanish, entirely on his own.
Andy wanted to try everything and go everywhere. He was 28 and had just made the last payments on his Volkswagen and his student loans. He wanted to
bike the Oregon Coast, and bike and possibly work in Europe. Or work for the environmental cause. Or buy a house and get a dog to go with his tropical
fish. Maybe get serious about a girlfriend he had been seeing. Try out churches before settling on one. But first he wanted to learn to surf and take
a trip to Ensenada.
Andy had been a good-natured, no-trouble kid growing up in Helvetia, attending West Union Grade School. His folks divorced, and Andy went with his dad
to Shelton, Wash., and graduated from high school, where he played baseball. His half siblings gave him the nickname: "Packman."
He studied biology at Washington State University, pondered changing his name from "Andy" to "Drew" and got a master's degree in physical therapy at
Idaho State.
Andy was his hospital's primary neurophysical therapist, working with adults with spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries. He loved to try
out his Spanish on hospital employees. "I understand almost everything they say!" he reported excitedly one day. His patients loved him, and his
supervisors found him mature beyond his years.
In January, he broke his wrist snowboarding on Mount Hood. While out of commission for everything except hiking, and sidelined to light duty at work,
he gained an appreciation for some of the frustrations his physical therapy patients went through. He studied Spanish and traveled to Ensenada.
He and two pals planned a West Coast road trip for July. Two books he lugged with him on the trip: "Breaking out of Beginning Spanish" and "Religions
of the World." They hiked in Yosemite, and learned to surf in Huntington Beach and San Clemente. Though Andy got scraped up and hit in the nose, he
was having so much fun he didn't mind.
Andy wanted to continue down the highway to Ensenada to practice his Spanish. On his second day in Ensenada, an eyewitness reported to Mexican
authorities, four children, 8 and younger, were screaming, caught in a riptide. Andy and his friend ran and dove into the water. His friend rescued
one child. Andy saved three.
The four children were safe. But Andy could not save himself and drowned July 22, 2005. A vendor who witnessed the whole scene reported to Mexican
police that she had never seen anyone run so fast as Andy.
No Lifeguards
MrBillM - 8-6-2005 at 10:22 AM
I am a firm believer that there shouldn't be any Lifeguards on any public beaches. Let nature take it's course.
Back in my youthful Surfing days, I frequently got into arguments with Lifeguards who wanted to keep me out of the water, usually because of Rip
Tides. On one occasion, the lifeguard said that he didn't want to have to come out to save me. My reply was "here's the deal, if I get into trouble,
I'll go ahead and drown quietly so you won't be disturbed". It worked. He said "go ahead A-Hole, I hope you do".
Like others have said, I've been in Rips more often than I could keep count. It's just a matter of staying calm and being patient.
