East Hampton Lifeguard Teaches People About Rip Currents

Jimmy Minardi, an East Hampton native and a longtime lifeguard at Main Beach, is doing his best to educate swimmers on the dangers of rip currents, a natural phenomenon that he said leads to scores of lifeguard rescues every week on the East End.

A rip current is a powerful underwater current that can pull unsuspecting swimmers hundreds of feet offshore in a matter of seconds. It is created when a channel is created perpendicular to the beach, and when waves wash onto the shore, their retreat, often at low tide, is directed through the channel with great force and speed.

“Rip currents are by far the most dangerous component on an ocean beach,” Mr. Minardi said. “I would say 99 percent of rescues from here, all the way to California down to Miami, are from rip currents. Anywhere around the world, it is the highest contributor to drowning.”

Mr. Minardi is considered something of an expert on rip currents. He has been asked by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide officials with information about them daily. The weather center employs Mr. Minardi on a volunteer basis as a weather advisor and rip current reporter.

“I call in every morning,” Mr. Minardi said, noting that he’s been a lifeguard since 1978, not to mention a certified personal trainer and fitness enthusiast.

Mr. Minardi is also the founder of East End Ocean Rescue, a nonprofit organization that helps to educate beachgoers on ocean safety issues and uses donations for programs to teach swimmers how to avoid dangerous situations in the surf. He often speaks at local schools and provides information to anyone seeking it.

“I try to create an awareness around it, so you understand what they look like so that you can be aware of them,” Mr. Minardi said, adding that there were more than 200 beach rescues across the East End this past weekend because of rip currents, which are particularly plentiful at the moment.

He noted that he does not only teach swimmers how to avoid rip currents, but offers advice on how to escape from them.

When caught in a rip current, Mr. Minardi said, it is important to remain calm. “Don’t panic,” he said. “If you start fighting it, you’re going to probably drown. You don’t fight it. You let it take you out to sea, and then you swim either to the right or the left, depending on which way the current is going.”

Mr. Minardi said that some rip currents are visible from shore, and educated swimmers know to stay away from them. “It’s a discolored, brown water,” Mr. Minardi said. “It’s usually a brown water that looks like it’s going back to sea.”

East End Ocean Rescue has donated a sign that is now placed at the lifeguard station at Main Beach warning swimmers of rip currents. There is also a 24-hour information box with leaflets that help explain them and their dangers.

“Any beach that needs one of these signs, I would be happy to donate them,” Mr. Minardi said. “All they have to do is ask and I’ll make it happen.

For more information on East End Ocean Rescue, or to learn more about beach safety and rip currents, visit www.eastendoceanrescue.org.