Five Beach Safety Tips for Summer

Important tips to keep you and those around you safe at the beach this summer

Please share with your family and friends

The beach is a dynamic and changing environment. Before you enter the water to surf or swim, it is essential that you are looking for signs and clues of danger. Below is a list of the main dangers involved in surfing. By familiarising yourself with them, you can plan to minimise risk before you hop in the sea.

“Rips are strong currents that can quickly take you from the shallows out of your depth. Stay calm – don’t panic. Never try to swim directly against the rip or you’ll get exhausted.”

—

Swim between red and yellow flags on UK beaches with lifeguard support

1. You should never surf or swim alone. If you do decide to go by yourself, always tell somebody where you’re going.

2. If you are learning to surf, then we recommend you start with beaches that are lifeguarded and surf between the black and white flags. Swim between the red and yellow flags. If you are surfing abroad bear in mind the lifeguard standards in other countries may not be as high as in the UK.

3. Always consider the depth of the water, the current, tides, the surf conditions, the seabed, as well as entry and exit points, before entering the water.

4. Familiarise yourself with the procedures you must take in an emergency (either attracting the attention of a lifeguard, or calling 999 if no lifeguards are present).

5. Rips - these are strong currents that can quickly take you from the shallows out of your depth. Lifeguards will show you how you can avoid rips but if you do get caught in one, read on for the key points to remember:

This is a lifeguard rescue board from Thailand, but they all look the same

Rips

• Stay calm – don’t panic

• If you can stand, keep your feet on the ground, wade don’t swim

• Keep hold of your board or inflatable to help you float

• Raise your hand and shout for help

• Never try to swim directly against the rip or you’ll get exhausted

• Swim parallel to the beach until free of the rip, then make for shore

• If you see anyone else in trouble, alert the lifeguards or call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard.

Video by @rupertmedia

2 Minute Mindful Practice

Take a moment to practice mindfulness and gratitude.

We spend most of our lives in the Default Mode Network of our brain, also called the resting state, it is a place of habitual patterns of thought. We dwell in memory, make judgments about ourselves and others, and imagine the future.

These thoughts are well-trodden neural pathways – by some estimates 95% of our daily thoughts are the same thoughts we had the day before, and 80% of those are negative. After many years of programming the brain, knowing how to recognise familiar sounds, smells and sights - we stop hearing, smelling and seeing, and assume the experience of our environment. We live increasingly in memories of our world.

Mindfulness is a practice that removes us from habitual thought patterns, it allows us to experience our surroundings in different ways and to think in new ways. We can experience the world as it actually is, not as our well-programmed brain expects it to be. 

Next time you wake up, before your brain can kick into the default mode, have a go at experiencing the present moment.

1. Notice sensations in your body - don’t label them as good or bad, just notice them.

2. Notice parts of your body that you’re not normally aware of. Notice warmth and coolness.

3. Notice a smell - try not to label it or work out what it is. 

4. Notice a sound - listen to it as though it was the first time you heard it.

After a few minutes of mindfulness, allow your brain to return to executive functioning. Think about something you are grateful for - combine the somatic and mental experience by feeling the sensation of gratitude in your body. How does your body feel? Where is your awareness at this moment? 

The best of 2021!

Thanks to all our beautiful guests for such a lively and joyful 2021!