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Aug. 8th, 2007 10:11 amAfter I got out of the shower this morning, I kept hearing a constant stream of helicopter noise coming in my windows; thinking it was coming from the city hall a block away, I was wondering why the police were hanging out for so long on top of the building - there's a heliport up there and police helicopters occasionally come and go. I stepped out the front door to see what was up and found the noise was coming from the opposite direction - two news helicopters hovering at what looked like the end of my street. They always look so strange doing that - just hanging there in the sky, perfectly still, no swaying or bobbing.
Came inside and turned on the news, thinking it might be traffic or a pretty weather background shot. Unfortunately, when the story finally came on, it was about a search for missing swimmers. Apparently five guys decided to go for a swim at 2 am and only three came back. One body was already found and they were doing CPR on another just pulled from the surf before I left for work; however, given that the guy had already been in the water for nearly six hours, the prospect didn't look good.
Two am suggests that somebody had a bright idea to go for a swim right after the bar kicked 'em out - there's a good recipe for a Darwin award. Where were the police/lifeguards that are always kicking people off the beach at 10 pm? We had to be carrying permits to go look for grunion after that time. Anyway, sad. I take my kids right along that stretch of beach all the time. I've swam there myself on numerous occasions, sometimes at night.
Thing is sometimes the surf looks deceptively calm; the longshore current can be very strong, and rip currents can easily carry you out past the surf line. I nearly drowned a former boyfriend once after high school because we went out past the surf in the same area, and I didn't realize he wasn't as strong a swimmer as I was; I looked around and saw him behind me struggling weakly to keep his head above water - he never called out to me or anything. Having recently had lifesaving training, I began pushing him back towards the beach; luckily a lifeguard saw us, swam out and carried him in. In the dark it would have been difficult for buddies to keep track of each other, especially if their judgment was impaired.
Came inside and turned on the news, thinking it might be traffic or a pretty weather background shot. Unfortunately, when the story finally came on, it was about a search for missing swimmers. Apparently five guys decided to go for a swim at 2 am and only three came back. One body was already found and they were doing CPR on another just pulled from the surf before I left for work; however, given that the guy had already been in the water for nearly six hours, the prospect didn't look good.
Two am suggests that somebody had a bright idea to go for a swim right after the bar kicked 'em out - there's a good recipe for a Darwin award. Where were the police/lifeguards that are always kicking people off the beach at 10 pm? We had to be carrying permits to go look for grunion after that time. Anyway, sad. I take my kids right along that stretch of beach all the time. I've swam there myself on numerous occasions, sometimes at night.
Thing is sometimes the surf looks deceptively calm; the longshore current can be very strong, and rip currents can easily carry you out past the surf line. I nearly drowned a former boyfriend once after high school because we went out past the surf in the same area, and I didn't realize he wasn't as strong a swimmer as I was; I looked around and saw him behind me struggling weakly to keep his head above water - he never called out to me or anything. Having recently had lifesaving training, I began pushing him back towards the beach; luckily a lifeguard saw us, swam out and carried him in. In the dark it would have been difficult for buddies to keep track of each other, especially if their judgment was impaired.
