With today's unofficial start of summer and Lake Superior beginning to warm up, swimmers on Duluth's Park Point beach should know about a danger lurking off shore.
Rip currents, the sometimes deadly pull of water away from beaches, will be the subject of a daylong conference on June 4.
The event is set for the Lafayette Community Center on Park Point -- just a few feet from the beach where rip currents can wreak havoc. It's sponsored by Minnesota Sea Grant and the National Weather Service.
"It's important for search-and-rescue people, some of whom have been stuck in these trying to rescue [people], to know what's out there and how to deal with it," said Jesse Schomberg, extension educator for Minnesota Sea Grant. "But it's also good if people who teach swimming lessons and those who spend a lot of time at the beach can come so they can pass this information on."
Rip currents are blamed for about 100 deaths each year nationwide, more than tornadoes or lightning. While they're usually associated with the ocean, rip currents can and do occur on the Great Lakes, especially along sand beaches. Eighteen people died at Lake Michigan beaches in recent years from rip currents.
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One man died and several people needed to be rescued from rip currents off Park Point in August 2003. Several reports of rescues occurred there in July and August 2004. The most recent publicized close calls occurred in August 2007. All were warm days with high off-lake winds and waves.
Dustin Plinski of Esko got caught in what probably was a rip current at Park Point on July 30, 2005. Even with a 6-foot, 240-pound frame, the football player said it seemed like the harder he struggled, the farther out from shore he was pulled.
"My arms started burning, my legs started burning, my lungs started burning," Plinski said in a 2005 interview with the News Tribune. "There was a point where I almost gave up. I thought I was going to die."
Pliniski eventually moved out of the current and was able to get back to shore, where he collapsed before being taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was treated and released.
The conference keynote speaker is Guy Meadows, a rip current expert and director of the University of Michigan Ocean Engineering Laboratory. Other experts will speak, including one on hypothermia, and a field trip to the beach is scheduled.
Dean Packingham, a National Weather Service meteorologist coordinating the conference, said first responder groups including Duluth police and fire personnel and the Coast Guard are slated to talk about their coordinated efforts to react to rip currents before emergency calls are made.
If you go
The June 4 rip current conference in Duluth runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pre-registration is required by June 1, and a $10 fee includes lunch. To register, call (218) 726-8106, e-mail jschombe@umn.edu or Dean.Packingham@noaa.gov or go to www.seagrant.umn.edu/rip .
