re: 10 year old swept out to sea in Destin.

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It's the delusion that kills folks.

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The delusion is that being a strong swimmer makes one drown-proof. "I can swim, ergo, I am safe/I can survive."

Wild waters don't care how good you are. Take a look at these pro swimmers and see just how well they do against strong currents.

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erroneously believing that's you will kill you

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Tell that to professionally trained swimmers, i.e., competition, military, and water rescue, that have had harrowing near death / drowning experiences.

What will kill a person--whether a non-swimmer, average swimmer, experienced swimmer, or highly trained/skilled swimmer, is being caught up and overwhelmed by unexpected, dangerous situations in an uncontrolled environment with unpredictable variables.

It is one of the main myths of water safety---that knowing how to swim, and being a strong swimmer, is enough to stay safe and prevent drowning.

All the advice to "learn how to swim" and "teach your kids how to swim" is great, but equally important is to know how to read the water and to understand just how incredibly dangerous open water can be.

The German city I lived in one summer had a natatorium down the street. It was a function of city government. To graduate middle school students had to have proof from there that they could swim several different strokes and , also, and this one seemed so sensible and not like anything I had had, they had to tread water in the deep end of the pool for an hour.

There’s a place that opened in an empty strip mall retail spot that’s called Little Goldfiah or aomething like that and it’s basically a big indoor swimming pool “camp” where kids can go and they teach swimming and have other activities.

It’s a great concept because in the modern suburbs there are a lot of kids that don’t have access to pools and grow up not being very good at swimming.

That said, learning to float/survive on top of the water with little effort is more valuable that knowing how to swim in a situation like this IMO.

thanks.

I just read the below. It may have been posted already.

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DESTIN, Fla. -- People familiar with the area near the Destin Pass where a 10-year-old girl went missing last week say it can be an extremely dangerous place to swim due to the strong tide.

Charter Captain Jayson Self has been in and around the Destin waters for 40 years.

"When it’s on a full outgoing ride, it can push as much or close to five knots or more," he said.

Self was coming back into the bay Thursday just an hour before 10-year-old Arkansas girl Trinity Eslinger was lost to the water in the Destin Pass.

He remembers how hard the current was pulling because it impacted his trip.

"We were doing about 12 knots before we hit the current," he said. "Going into the pass, it slowed our boat down to nine knots. It slowed our boat down three knots. ... If it slowed our boat down that much, no one can swim against it and it pulls you under."

That's what happened to Eslinger, according to a video posted on social media.

Someone close to the family said she was trying to get back to shore, but when she lifted her feet off the sand to swim, the current took her away.

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https://weartv.com/news/local/charter-captain-speaks-on-tide-dangers-near-destin-pass-area-where-girl-went-missing

I am 55 and with 4 kids and have swam at beaches since I was 8 numerous times a year. Never had one scare until last July at Lumahai Beach in Kauai. We came very close to losing my 14 year old and youngest daughter. If you look at Lumahai on maps you will see Lumahai stream emptying into the ocean. The side of the stream opposite the end of the beach is just a rock wall that rises about 6-10 feet above the water. Very fun to jump in the stream over that 100 yd stretch down to the bridge.

We have swam there several times every trip over the past 8 summers. Never any weird sudden changes in wave sequence. One day we were out swimming right where the stream and ocean meet. Right at the end of the sandy beach you can see in maps. For about an hour we were standing in about thigh deep water getting smashed by waves and having a great time. I had just got out (very steep incline) and sat on the edge of the waterline to rest. My wife was already there watching. My daughters and son were still playing in water when a series of crazy big waves came in one after another out of the blue. They were all getting face planted and were laughing at each other when I told them to get out . My 19 year old son and older daughter got out but my 14 year old being shorter was in waist deep at that point and couldn’t fight through the undertow of that steep beach. Waves kept crashing over her and she was just bobbing as if in a washing machine and some strange side current was pushing her laterally down the beach and we were running down the beach with her. I have seen fear in eyes before but never like I saw in her eyes at that time. We were about 60 yards from the original point and she could not get an inch closer to the shore. Just continuing to be pushed laterally. By the grace of God, my very in shape son was in between me and her in about knee deep water and about 5 yards from her. He walked in to waist deep getting pounded by waves and grabbed her wrist and started pulling her in when a big wave separated them. He went back to her and was able to pull her out the second time.

In all my years of being in the ocean, I just can’t believe how the situation changed so quickly. I was so pissed at myself for not doing my research. Later that night, I was looking at the history of deaths at that location and saw it was 2nd most on the island. It is nicknamed Lumadie by the locals. What an idiot putting my kids in that situation. I didn’t even know to check the swells. I was telling my friend who is a local surfer about what happened and he said “yeah, very lucky man, we had 3-4 foot swells yesterday and you should never swim at Lumahai with over 2 foot swells. You need to get the surfer app.”

At 54, I learned something the hard and terrifying way. How quickly things can change in the ocean and be a lot more aware of conditions. I should have known when there were no locals swimming there that day (when there are usually many)that it was bad conditions.

Now I see these advertisements on FB for restube and me or mine will never go back into the ocean without one or something like it. That experience freaked me out.

It wasn’t a rip, but it was survivable. When the tide is falling the water moving out of the bay into the gulf can be 10+ miles an hour. Best bet is to ride it out until in calmer water.

With that said, getting out of a rip is not difficult at all. I taught my kids how to do it when they were around 7 or 8. To be fair, we pretty much lived at the beach but it’s still something easily teachable and doable. Don’t panic, float on your back, wait for the tide to start pushing you back in.

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According to a Facebook livestream from the boyfriend of Eslinger's mother, Victor Cobbs, the adults decided it was time to return to the Airbnb at around 7:05 p.m., so he got in the water one more time to wash the sand off his body, with his son Kingston and Trinity following close behind. As they tried to exit the water, Cobbs said he realized that he and the children had been caught in a current. Although Cobbs reportedly tried to keep the children calm, by the time a boat arrived to pull them from the water, Trinity had slipped away and was nowhere to be seen.

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Don’t panic, float on your back

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yeah man. everyone should practice floating regularly with their children. Beat it into your kids head that floating is your lifeline. in any situation that doesnt feel right float. swimming will get you killed, floating will save your life.

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Kids aren’t mature enough to appreciate that things can go sideways really quickly…that’s what parents are for.

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Ain't this the truth. We were on St. George a couple weeks back and the current was pretty bad. High winds and full moon. My 6 and 4 year olds were wanting to go in badly, but I wouldn't let them in unless I was with them 1-on-1 and they had their life jackets on. I was trying to explain to my 6-year old that the ocean will kill you quickly, but A) he's too young to understand, and B) He's a hard-headed SOB. Both can swim fine in a pool, but the ocean is not to be messed with.

In my young dumber days and when I lived at the beach for a while, we had a couple close calls. I look back and shake my head at some of the dangerous conditions we went out in.