Rip tides

When I was 8 years old and before I could swim I was taken out on a plastic mat with my 15 year old female cousin and my two male cousins both age 13 at Zuma Beach in the Los Angeles area which is in the northern part of the Malibu area on the coast there in Los Angeles County still I believe. It was likely the first time outside of whooping cough where I believed I was going to die. Because when the rip tide swept us out it took 5 lifeguards to save us all and they were exhausted before they got us all back to the shore. My uncle who was supposed to be watching us all was asleep on the beach with a newspaper over his face to prevent sunburn and so he was likely yelled at by my two aunts because they were like that then when I was little. But, the important thing is we all lived through this. But, without life guards coming out to rescue us all we wouldn't have. Because the rip tides pulled us many blocks out to sea so it got very scary especially for me because I couldn't swim yet. The scariest was when the lifeguards made me give up the life raft for a little orange pontoon thing I was supposed to hang onto so I didn't drown that they towed me back into shore on. Each of us had a lifeguard towing us into shore on an orange pontoon thing and we were told to let the plastic life raft go out to sea because they couldn't rescue that too. Coming in we had to be pulled through waves breaking that were 5 to 7 feet high that were terrifying for someone who couldn't swim yet. Somehow where the rip tide was there weren't waves for some reason but where they had to bring us in we kept being banged onto the sand below chopping 5 to 7 foot waves that covered my hair and upper body with sand and water and it hurt to hit the sand and be driven into it by the force of waves that broke wrong for surfing and just injured you instead. But, the point is, don't go swimming over your head in water you aren't familiar with. Because you might be in a rip tide and not able to swim back to shore without drowning.

In order to come back into shore you have to swim sideways for up to a block in distance and make sure brown ocean water isn't going out to sea in what looks like a mini river which is what a rip tide often looks like. Also, there may not be waves where there is a rip tide because of the currents so it might look friendly to you until it's too late.

So, be careful this summer and don't drown because you don't understand rip tides on the ocean anywhere.