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Read about ocean safety rip current survival in Cardiff Living’s April magazine feature on Think Waves Life Saving Organization and the Willis brothers Milton and Michael’s ambitious ocean safety mission to reduce rescues and educate the community on rip current survival.
Cardiff Living is a glossy print magazine exclusively distributed to residents of Cardiff by the sea (area code 92007) an enclave within Encinitas located in North San Diego County.
Not to long ago Cardiff was a somewhat inexpensive sleepy little beach town. Today Cardiff is considered one of the most desirable locations in the world and the real estate prices have changed from working man affordable to amongst the highest in the nation.
What hasn’t changed are the waves . Cardiff houses some of the most consistent, high quality waves on the planet which includes both Cardiff reef and south Cardiff’s Seaside reef.
Rip currents can be especially strong at these iconic surfing spots especially when the waves are pumping. Some surfers will learn ocean safety rip current survival the hard way others will learn about it through word of mouth, Think Waves online presence and magazines such as Cardiff living.
Not surprisingly, Some of the best and most famous surfers in the world have come out of Cardiff. One of the earliest stand outs was the late Tommy Lewis who also was a master surfboard shaper and expert waterman. Lewis was taught ocean safety rip current survival skills by his father Stan an original Cardiff doryman.
Surfing superstar Rob Machado who is known throughout the world comes from Cardiff and regularly surfs Seaside reef when he isn’t on surfing photo shoots traveling the globe to find exotic surf locations. When asked about ocean safety rip current survival Machado laughed, “ I love rip currents, I jump in them and they take me right to the waves!”
Another Cardiff stand out is Van’s Joel Tudor. Tudor has inspired surfers everywhere with his smooth soulful approach to riding waves. Tudor comes from a surfing family and was blessed to have his papa Joe, an avid surfer himself, teach him the basics of ocean safety rip current survival. Joel has come full circle and now teaches his sons Tosh and Judah ocean safety rip current survival skills.
The Willis Brothers Milton and Michael world champion big wave surfers learned the basic fundamentals of big wave surfing, ocean safety rip current survival while surfing Cardiff reef. Both Milton and Michael attended San Dieguito High School which had the first surfing P. E. in the nation which was held at Cardiff Reef.
At the time Surfing P. E. really didn’t offer ocean safety rip current survival information. There was no surfing or safety instruction, it was just show up and go surfing regardless of the ocean conditions unless it was raining. The ocean and surfing became our teacher.
One of the first things we learned as surfers was rip currents were not deadly, frightening or dangerous as we had been taught our entire lives. More dangerous than rip currents turn out to be panic and fear caused by misinformation and or lack of knowledge.
Remembering back to Surfing P. E. days there was a time when the ocean safety rip current survival skills surfing taught me actually helped me save two lives.
While surfing Cardiff Reef on a beautiful sunny blue day with solid 3 to 4 foot waves coming in, I noticed two boys a little younger than me had lost their surfboards and they were now caught in the rip current.
Neither of the boys looked like strong swimmers as they were struggling hard against the rip current trying to get back to shore. They were tiring out quickly. Suddenly they began screaming for help.
Myself and a few others nearby heard the distressed calls but I was the only one to swiftly respond. Padding over as fast as I could I got to the first boy just as he was going under. I grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up onto my surfboard.
Next I was able to get the second boy safely and had him hang on using my surfboard as a flotation device. The first thing I had to do was calm the boys down by assuring them we were going to be fine.
With my surfing experience I knew we would never break the grip of the rip and I also knew the nearby waves would push us all to shore. So at my direction we slowly made our way to the breaking waves and with minutes we were all washed safely back to shore.
Little did we know at the time but this preventable rescue would have a profound impact on the Willis Brothers. A mental revaluation took place. We realized ocean safety rip current survival skills that were understood and practiced by experienced watermen were completely unknown to the vast majority of surfers, swimmers and even professional lifeguards.
The mission became clear, surfing and the ocean lifestyle had enriched the Willis Brothers lives tremendously which created the passion to give back to the community and ocean world. We set about teaching the world ocean safety rip current survival skills the “Surfers way” tried true and proven to save lives.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Surfers Way to ocean safety rip current survival the basics are as follows
1. Stay Calm
Nothing will pull you under and rip currents generally don’t go much farther out than the breaking waves.
2. Avoid Rip Currents
To avoid rip currents, Wade or swim in front of breaking waves.
3. Flow with the side current
Flow with the side current to the nearest waves. Never swim against the current. The quickest way to shore is with the waves. Rips out, Waves in
4. To break the grip of the rip swim in the nearest direction of breaking waves.
For more information on ocean safety and rip current survival check out thinkwaves.org
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Aloha all ! Happy and safe Beach Going !
