Being a strong swimmer I have tried most beaches of fame and enjoyed the pleasure of swimming further out than the crowd, and then a gentle swim back to shore. So my wife and I on a sales trip to Australia made a visit to Bondi Beach. All work and no play makes one a dull boy!
It is a lovely beach and stretches for one kilometre to the north and south, and is a favourite place for swimmers and surf boards. We decided to sit fairly central; well there were fewer people there as the swimmers and surfers had gone to either end of the beach.
My wife settled down on the beach and generously said, ‘You have the first swim, but don’t be too long it’s a warm day and I fancy cooling off as well.’
The water looked very inviting and there were not a lot of swimmers where we were. In I went, and it seemed a fairly easy swim out then as I seemed to have gone out more than I intended I turned back. Or that was the intention, nobody had explained about rip tides. It’s where two currents head towards the beach, and then where they meet the shore they turn into each other, and head out again together. As I said at the beginning I am a strong swimmer, but not strong enough. I continued to go out to sea despite swimming with all my strength. Looking over my shoulder I could see this dark triangle in the water behind me.
Now I am a logical person, not prone to panic, but I was close to it now. To my left were the surfers, who seemed to be having no trouble further in shore. I needed a rest and the idea of hanging onto a surf board had a compelling attraction. I swam to the left rather than the shore. Suddenly my efforts were rewarded by being able to make progress in their direction. I was out of the rip tide, no need for the boards and I headed for the shore.
‘Where have you been, you’ve missed the excitement. The life guard’s dragged two swimmers out on the sea in front of me, and put up that sign!’ Danger strong rip tide. I flaked out onto the beach. ‘Pity they didn’t look a bit further out’ was all I could say.
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