Cody Kennedy was wading in waist deep water at Pensacola Beach, Florida, when waves and rip tides swept him out to the Gulf of Mexico. Attempts to rescue Cody were unsuccessful. Similar waves and rip tides have killed 17 people along the same stretch of beach the last two years.
If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, don’t try to fight the power of the ocean by swimming straight towards the shore against the current. This is what your instincts will tell you to do, panic will kick in and you’ll struggle to get back to shore a quickly as possible. This will only wear you out until you are too tired to swim anymore.
Try to control your panic and swim parallel even with the beach until you are past the rip tides. Once you are past the rip tides you can swim to the shore at a diagonal. Try to get the attention of a lifeguard.
If you are with children stay with them and keep a very close eye on them. If you see anyone in trouble in the water don’t try to go after them, get a lifeguard. Far too often, the rescuer gets into trouble in dangerous surf.
Mar 28, 2003
TBO.com
The Associated Press
Deadly Panhandle Island Claims First Victim of Year
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A rescue attempt failed and a 19-year-old man apparently became the first person to drown this year off a barrier island where 17 people have died in the past two years.
Rip currents apparently swept Cody Kennedy, of Milton, into the Gulf of Mexico while wading in waist-deep water Thursday in this resort community at the western end of Santa Rosa Island. The narrow island stretches nearly 50 miles along the Florida Panhandle coast.