Swimming-Safety Books

Dr. Beach's Survival Guide is a terrific book that really hits the mark! The book is small, informative, easy to read, and adroitly uses simple but effective diagrams and charts to relay concepts to the reader. I would think that this guide is a "must read" for anyone contemplating a beach vacation. The book addresses widely-held beach mythology and clarifies many misconceptions about beaches, waves, currents, common beach dangers (such as sharks, etc.), and a host of other related topics. Seldom can you purchase such a wealth of information at such a reasonable price. This book should be on every out-doorsman's bookshelf!

This is another excellent book from Dr. Beach, one of the country's foremost authorities on coastal processes. This book is a fine introduction to the hazards at the beach. His chapter on rip currents is especially interesting and informative. Anyone who ventures onto the beach and into the water should read this section in order to recognize the telltale signs of a rip current.

If you're a regular beach-goer like I am, this little book is a gold mine. Although not big, it's filled with interesting information about beaches, sharks, and other things that can mess up your beach vacation. While the shark section is a real eye-opener, its all the details about how beaches really work that I liked most. Who would have thought there would be so much to know about our favorite summer vacation spots? I guess if anyone would know about beaches, it's Dr. Beach! This is a great little book that's now a permanent part of my beach gear.

This book is full of interesting info and useful tidbits about the dangers and hazards of going to the beach. Some of this I already knew, but much of it was new. For example, when I was growing up in L.A. as a beach bum, I learned that you can spot riptides by standing on the cliff or getting a little elevation, such as by climbing up a lifeguard stand, and looking for a triangle of white water pointing out to sea. They could be anywhere from 50 feet wide to hundreds of yards wide, but they were detectable if you knew what to look for. I also learned that most sharks don't like the murky water where the waves are breaking and stirring up the sand, and to head for that if there was trouble. Better yet, just get out of the water. I learned how to recognized each shark species by their fins and which ones to get out of the water if they appeared, such as bluefins, which are also known man-eaters in addition to the infamous great whites. Interestingly enough, technically great whites are only "man-biters" rather than mean-eaters. They usually bite humans by mistake looking for seals, their favorite food, and so spit it out. Of course, that's not much consolation to the person at that point. Some of these attacks are because a swimmer in a wet suit looks a lot like a seal with their dark, blubbery skin. It's also probably not a good idea to decorate the bottom and sides of your sea kayak with pictures of seals, as I saw once. :-)

Having been at the beach many times and body-surfed some pretty big waves occasionally, I've had a few harrowing experiences myself. I once had the experience of being in an undertoe that actually pulled me underneath the water, but only for about 5 seconds. It was still a little scary. One time I stupidly tried to ride an 18-foot wave and almost got killed because the wave was what the Aussies call "a dumper" and it smashed me on the bottom. You should avoid fast-breaking dumpers because of that. I think the biggest wave that's safe to ride for most people is probably about 10 feet, unless you've got a belly board, which can outrun the break. Wearing one swim fin (yes, only one is needed, because it's inconvenient to have two fins on) is a trick experienced body-surfers use, that's also helpful for catching waves. Back in the 60's, I saw TV footage of this crazy guy belly-boarding 30-foot waves at Waimea. Talk about guts.

The beach that's the king of the riptides is Sunset Beach in Hawaii. Many people have died there because of rips, and it's capable of pulling you under, too. Once it pulled 3 surfers under at the same time, who unfortunately drowned. One thing to remember is if you "wipe out," be sure to tuck and roll up into a ball. One thing that happens to tourists and neophytes at Sunset is that when they go "over the falls," they don't tuck and then get slammed face first into the bottom, breaking their necks. This happened recently to a young couple that was on their honeymoon, and it's happened a number of times to inexperienced swimmers and body-surfers before. So be careful about that.

Speaking of getting pulled under, I once had the idea for a little invention, a small oxygen cylinder that would weigh maybe 5 or 10 pounds max but that would contain enough air to allow you to breath for a few minutes, if you were going swimming or body- surfing, especially at a potentially dangerous beach like Sunset. Not sure if it would be practical, but I never did follow up on it to find out. But there were a number of times when I wiped out on a big wave and didn't get to take a full breath before I got slammed under, and then I got held down for 20-30 seconds or so, or had to stay down that long because of other breaking waves, and I was almost out of air a couple of times before I was able to surface, and that would have been nice to have.

Another odd fact is that the reason why your feet itch after a day at the beach, at least on western U.S. beaches. It's not because of the hot sand and the salt water. It's because of the pieces of jellyfish, especially man-'o-war, that wash up on the beach, and can still irritate your feet even after days on the sand.

Well, if I haven't scared you off completely from going to the beach again, this is a great little book to learn about all the hazards and dangers. Good luck and happy beach-going!

The autor is an expert in the profesional and recreational scuba
diving.The book was worth each eurocent I paid for it.
I heartly reccomend it to any scuba passionate!
Night diving in so longer a mystery for me!
Thanks Amazon as well!

This is an excellent book on night scuba diving. It is easy to read and very infomative, I sugggest it to all my diving students!
Current and up-to-date!

This is the ONLY children't book available on the market teaching the importance of water safety. It's beautifully illustrated;children immediately identify with the lively, fun fruit characters. Louie and his friends are delightful, but more significantly, underscore a crucial message about the importance of water safety. This book should be 'required reading' for any small child exposed to open water. This beautiful little book makeslearning fanciful and fun, while imparting a potentially life saving message.

Written by Jeana Thomas, Camp Of Champs is a children's picture book about water safety, illustrated by Lisa Allen Triefenbach in vivid color. Since drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death for children under age 14, the message of SAFE - Stop and Find an Adult before you Enter the water is a welcome "must" for every young child, regardless of whether he or she already knows how to swim. Camp Of Champs teaches children to wear a life vest while learning to swim, to always have someone good at swimming watching, and never to chase after a toy that falls into the water. The eye-catching, playful, full-page illustrations help drive home the potentially life-saving message of water-safety. Camp Of Champs is a superb gift book excellent for being read aloud to very young children, and more importantly, carries the highest recommendation for its contribution to child safety.

Great book that anyone who plans on kayaking, rafting, or anything on the river, should own. There's the important and simple things that every one should know about what to do in possibly dangerous river situations. There is also a good amount of advanced rescue techniques involving many ropes, pulleys, carabiners, and people so if that's what you're looking for this has it.

Mssrs. Walbridge and Sundmacher cover the subject of whitewater rescue well. It is geared toward the recreational boater, but is also a valuable tool for the public safety officer (police, sheriff, fire/rescue,SAR, ranger, etc.). It does not cover reading whitewater, since assumes the reader is already a boater of some sort. It does present the most common problems and solutions. In addition it covers use of the tools needed to safely execute timely rescues. Easy reading, excellent photographs and drawings illustrate the points well.

I simply cannot believe that this book has gone un~reviewed for nearly 4 years! I am a collector of children's literature, particularly books with a seashore theme. Three generations (my grandchildren, my daughter and I) formed the "Jefferson Street All Girls Book Club" last summer, although I had been stashing beach books away since before the two "Littles" were born! This book moved right to "#1" on our list and will open the summer season (one short week) in Cape May, NJ, in July!
Amazingly, the author and illustrator are our seashore neighbors! They are both lieutenant lifeguards along the New Jersey coast. Gee ~ They're brave, handsome and heroic as well as being SMART! The text and illustrations are simply fantastic. The book is extremely informative and chronicles a day in the life of a lifeguard in an interesting (and non-scary)manner. You must see the detailed illustrations sprinkled throughout the book to truly appreciate what a real "beach find" this book is. You and your young reading partners will learn much more than just the working of the lifeguard system. The illustrations of tiny bits of beach flora and fauna are an extra~special treat.
I am still as impressed and thrilled by the sight of a lifeguard on his stand today as I was 50~some years ago! After the "Littles" are in bed, their grandmother will still be paging through this real "gift from the sea".

A great resource for learning about a variety of diving safety and health topics. Also a great review for the experienced diver.

This is the second I'm Safe! book I've bought for my daughter, who is 6. She loves hearing about Kip and Kayla, the brother and sister in the book. In I'm Safe! In the Water, Kayla and Kip get to take swimming lessons; however Kayla is a little afraid of the water. We are taken along with them on their first class, and by learning what to expect to happen during her swim classes, my daughter's own fears were allayed. In the story, Kayla is given a water situtation in which she does not feel helpless, thus, the next time she goes to her swim class, she is not scared. That is the crux of the I'm Safe! series: teaching children how to respond to situations that they may be unsure of, or may find scary. The Gordon's do this in such a way that the reader is never scared, but feels empowered right along with Kip and Kayla. I recommend these books highly, and so does my daughter.

The book is very well structured, very clear and very rich illustrated with nice and clear pictures.
Kind of basic but that's its intention.
Highly recommended for swimming instructors.
Good as reference too.

This fun book teaches children about being safe around open water by having the child-hero save his buddy the dragon. We have all four safety books in this series and really enjoy them all (especially now that they are in paperback).

This book is a great asset to have if anyone is thinking about becoming an instructor!