Yeah, I saw the wind issues and drift in the forecast, but whenever it says chest-head high down here, you gotta get on it regardless of the details. It was a bit much, but like I said, once you were out, all drift aside, the waves were super consistent and I had a ton of good rides. It was just poorly planned. I mean, I literally should have taken my buddies car down to Coligny, and driven back up to the north end and just surf the entire coast of the island. The walks back up against the wind with a longboard was insane. about half way through the walk, I laid the board flat, horizontally against my chest and let my arms go and just walked. My calves were burning. It was gnarly. It was the same conditions as we had a few times last summer that ended up being SUPER fun, but no where near this windy. Crazy.
What I don't understand is that the most famous and popular beaches that every tourist wants to go to, (Miami, NSB, beaches in CA) are free. And the underrated beaches of the EC with the best waves coat $5-$8 per day just to get in.
A lot of the world class breaks in CA are all "unguarded"... On HUGE days, they will put boats and choppers up for support. As far as paying for beach time, the state and cities all get such a HUGE amount of tax revenue from the tourism, they don't feel the need to nickel and dime people over sand. That would be like an economic double jeopardy. All the local businesses taxes sky rocket in season, jobs are created, hundreds of millions in revenue is generated, yet the municipalities feel the need to line their pockets even further.... It is a shame... But business is business, in the grand scheme of things, if the municipalities were not figuring out a way to squeeze the most amount of revenue out of every individual that steps foot in their town, they would not be doing their job. It's like any board member for any publicly traded company. People get pissed about wages, about sending production overseas, but at the end of the day, any business is about money. If people aren't maximizing revenue, they aren't doing their job..... Depends on where you live. Down here, you don't see all the regulations and stuff, because this is supposed to be a "big money resort island" so people feel cheapened if they are having to do that kind of stuff, so HHI is happy to get their few million people in foot traffic a year, and the resorts, timeshares and everything else bend everyone over the whole time they are down here... So the people with money make sure that the city is in check, otherwise, they will take their millions elsewhere. different scene though.
Zach these swells with north east winds happend every summer. Sometimes it does get super good. I learned when I was about 15 how to carry my log down the beach here because those crazy winds happen all the time. The thing is to that sideshore yesterday wasn't even that bad to be honest. That one you could paddle and stay in position for a minute if you wanted to.
liability maybe but some beach visitors/families/tourist etc want to go to a "guarded beach" so it could be an asset as well
its really sad to hear about people drowning in rip currents.if they only knew how simple it was to get out of trouble.again its a reminder why certain people should stay at the local pool.thats why lifeguards are nessecary,I still hate them but certain people need them,and they should signify certain areas as swim zones instead of the whole damn beach,like how they have a surf zone between 2 jettys.surfers,well most surfers know what they are doing.don't harass us,go protect the people who don't know. funniest thing at the beach I ever saw,i know I told the story on here b4,it was 4th of july like maybe 7-8 yrs ago.I don't even thnk there was any waves or anything,but me and my buddies are swimming far out,we see someone in trouble further in,so we go to help them,and the guys like im ok,im the boss,making sure the lifeguards are doing their job.so we let the guy be,the lifeguards arrive 2 minutes late,guy probly would've been dead if he was really in trouble,lol the boss guy put up such a crazy fight,pushing the guards underwater,everything to signfy someone in trouble,the guards dragged him out the shorebreak,then the guy just took off lol.funniest thing I ever seen,this was at Gunnison beach,sandy hook many years ago.if u were there on the 4th of july,u probably witnessed it
Very good point. Not sure about the statistics, but I NEVER remember hearing about swimming/tourist deaths in SoCal. Even with all the unguarded beaches. The last I remember was a guy that like paddled out to sea on his board, but they ruled it a suicide. He just left his sh** on the beach and paddled off into the sunset... But with all the big surf and crazy rips, I am surprised I really NEVER witnessed beach rescues. And I will tell you what, just messing around body surfing, there are SERIOUS rips and stuff. You go out on a chest to head high day and you can just feel the ocean trying to suck you out. Not sure why there is all the tom foolery on the beaches on the east coast. I have scooped up little kids and stuff numerous times in OC MD back in the day just playing around in waist high water. All the sudden you just see the tears roll and the panic set in. Wonder if there has ever been a case study on ocean related deaths from rips and drowning. Ive been out on huge days out west where there were dozens of people out there that had no business. No matter how bad the lineup gets cleared and bombs are dropping on people, I never really remember any fatalities... Crazy. Maybe the human mind and panic really makes us think its worst than it really is.
Classic. I used to hate that when I was in high school, doing life saving drills and they tell the guy you are trying to bring in to just flail and pull on you, try and pull you under. I'm like, for real? Even in a near death panic, why would anyone act that way. Safest thing to do is probably just knock them out first and keep their head above water.
You are correct sir. Same thing applies to skateparks and other similar things. If you post swim/skate or whatever at your "own risk" you can shift most if not all of the liability off of the Town/City or business.
Hey! I'm friends with that head guard! The reason the guards stay so late is due to what everyone on here talks about- too many ppl drown. I'm mean seriously- what are you suppose to do when it 23 ft??? Btw these guys are highly trained...you ever try saving someone in 23 ft?? Respect them- if they tell you not to surf... Don't surf! Prolly better to just stay out of the water the whole summer...
if so perhaps you could gently tell him that the beach patrons (of which i am one; i have a canceled check for $100) regard him as a fool.
heres some jokes from summers' past: the beach is short-staffed? thats ok cause jebus saves. he drowned? must have been gods' will.
