This summer has seen more rip tide activity than I can ever remember in my 44 years of going to the Jersey shore. I didn't know what a rip tide was, let alone the conventional wisdom of how to get out of one. But last week I read about 3 people dying in them. Yet it did not deter me from visiting Mary Ellen and her family at their beach rental. We were standing in the surf talking about how the undertow felt a little stronger when the whistles started blowing and we noticed that my daughter Eliza had drifted away from us outside of the flags. She was with a group of other people who seemed to be out further than they should be. We beckoned her to get in between the flags. She's a good swimmer and I thought she could come over to us. As we talked, my son Julian swam over to help her. Another 10 seconds went by and I noticed that they weren't coming over.
I shot over to them just as the life guard arrived and a man with a boogie board showed up right behind me. We were much farther out than I could have guessed. The life guard told us that there was a rip tide. He told us to be calm, there were about 8 of us there at that time. However, because he was breathing heavily from swimming out to us so quickly, he didn't seem particularly calm himself. We all clung to the boogie board while we waited for the row boat to come out to us. One young girl was panicking a bit so the life guard held on to her. I never even felt the pull of the tide. The boat came out to us and they pulled us all in. However, there were too many of us in the boat to row in safely. Therefore they sent a wave runner out to shuttle us back in. The life guards asked Julian and I to get on the wave runner. I was reluctant to leave Eliza on the boat with the others but the guards assured me of her safety and she didn't appear distressed. The guard driving the wave runner asked if anyone on the boat was named Joe because a mother on the beach was looking for her son. Nobody on the boat assented. I asked the small boy if he was Joe. He shook his head no.
We were driven back to shore. It was hard to enjoy the fun of slapping through the waves. As we got off the vehicle the life guard told the anxious mother that nobody answered to Joe on the boat. She began freaking out and looking further for her son. Meanwhile I found Mary Ellen and my husband Norm on the beach. Mary Ellen had wisely chosen to wait until we were safely on the boat before she woke Norm up from his beach chair to tell him what was going on. They were very glad to see us but wondered about Lizzie. We moved to the part of the beach where the row boat was coming in. Lizzie hopped out of the boat and ran to find us. We later learned that the little boy's name was Joey and he did not respond to Joe. I felt the exasperation and relief his mother must have felt. I later felt I was glad I was in the water rather than on the shore watching with the crowds. I knew we were safe out there, the shore dwellers may not have felt so confident.
Life guarding, they really are more than just pretty tanned people.
