Amazing human chain formed to rescue drowning family in Panama City Beach

[A Turtle Named Mack]

It was supposed to just be a quick trip to the beach, but the Saturday afternoon diversion to the water almost ended in unspeakable tragedy for Roberta Ursrey and her family.
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/201...-family-in-pcb

Well, not everyone in Florida is a flake - although as someone raised in Alabama, I'll note that the apparent ringleader of the rescue was an Alabamian.

[UEL]

Superb story. That has made my day.

Thanks for that.

[thorny locust]

ATNM! Good to see you posting!

-- and yes, great story.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Isn't this the city where Spam & Cookies lives?

Seaboe

[Gutter Monkey]

'Alabamian' sounds vaguely eastern European, perhaps even middle eastern, I don't know if I trust it ....

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by Gutter Monkey

'Alabamian' sounds vaguely eastern European, perhaps even middle eastern, I don't know if I trust it ....

Don't! All those critters that Australians call "deadly monsters", Alabamians call "lunch."

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by thorny locust

ATNM! Good to see you posting!

Thanks. I did not 100% go away, but I decided to simplify my life in a number of ways, and this was one of the things that mostly got tossed. But I liked this story too much and had nowhere else to share it.

[ganzfeld]

I get that but it sure is good to see you. (We don't want to have to make a human chain down to Atlanta to check on you! It never gets past Memphis. Graceland, I think.)

[Gutter Monkey]

/joins ganzfeld's human chain

[Alarm]

Originally Posted by Gutter Monkey

/joins ganzfeld's human chain

\/\/\/

[Rebochan]

I have to say it's been easy lately to succumb to nihilism but this put a big crack in that outlook. 80 strangers risked their lives without a second thought.

Originally Posted by Gutter Monkey

/joins ganzfeld's human chain

Originally Posted by Alarm

\/\/\/

\/\/\/

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

Isn't this the city where Spam & Cookies lives?

Seaboe

Yes. We're FB friends, and she's posted about this story.

[ASL]

First of all, welcome back ATNM.

Anyways, for those caught in a rip current without the benefit of a human chain but who still don't want to die, the thing to do is swim parallel to the shoreline until clear of the outgoing current stream.

It would have been nice if they had included that as a PSA in the article to perhaps help future beach-goers in duress. I guess they did successfully complete items three and four below, so there's that...

[E. Q. Taft]

No 'like' button here, but thanks for posting. It's always great to see people coming together spontaneously when an actual human being -- or in this case, several -- need help.

I wish we could somehow extend that spirit to situations where the danger is just as real but not as obvious or immediate...

[Ali Infree]

I agree that this human chain shows that there is some hope left. I heard a piece on NPR last night interviewing one woman who helped connect the family to the chain and to safety. When everyone got back to ankle-deep water they let out a cheer.
And shortly returned to the smaller groups from which they came. Sometimes it can feel good to be part of these species!
Back to the grasslands we go.

Ali

[NeeCD]

Originally Posted by ASL

Anyways, for those caught in a rip current without the benefit of a human chain but who still don't want to die, the thing to do is swim parallel to the shoreline until clear of the outgoing current stream.

The Washington Post article I originally saw about this story did say that the first two people to attempt to help the swimmers did try to go parallel (I assume that's what "sideways" meant), but still couldn't break free of the riptide.

Tabatha Monroe and her wife, Brittany, in Panama City for a birthday getaway, were the first two to hear the boys’ panicked cries for help. The couple had just gone into the water when they saw the boys far from shore. They swam over and grabbed hold of their boogie boards.
But when they tried towing them back to shore, the women couldn’t break free of the current.
They tried to swim straight and they tried to swim sideways, Tabatha Monroe told The Washington Post, but nothing worked. After about 10 minutes, a few young men with a surfboard snagged Brittany and towed her back to shore, just as the number of people who needed rescuing grew.

Scary, since that is what we are told to do in that situation.

[ASL]

I kind of wonder what "sideways" means. Does it mean relative to the beach, or just something like a side-stroke? Perhaps the WaPo article makes it clear, but I can't view it due to a pay wall. I've never had that problem with WaPo before...

[Lainie]

It means parallel to the shore, thus perpendicular to the riptide.

[Beachlife!]

I recently saw a new study where they found out rip tides go in a oval pattern. It advised allowing the rip tide to take you because it will usually return you to shore on its own. It said that many swimmers exhaust themselves unnecessarily swimming parallel to shore.

[ASL]

Well now I'm beginning to thinks it's best not to swim in the Ocean or large bodies of water altogether. Or rivers (for different reasons).