Man drowns, son saved while swimming at Yamaguchi beach

Wow not cool, especially when the wife was on the beach, where are the life guards?

We hear so much of these accidents during the summer. I think of myself as a good swimmer, but if I were in his shoe, will I have met the same fate? Is there any way to prevent them?

RIP daddy. I hope you are relieved to know your son survived.

Most Japanese can't swim well, hence why you see so many inflatable.

Back home we had swimming lessons every week(not just in summer), we also had to dive 50m, swim 1km under 30 min and be able to use a rescue hold and swim/drag 30m while both are fully dressed. There was more of course like board jumping(1m, 3m, 5m), diving, etc.

Swimming education is a joke here.

It's ME and TSRnow - usually the "best" swimmers get in trouble, as the trust themselves too much. I know from personal experience that currents on the ocean can be so strong that even the best swimmers can't escape them. The not so good ones will use donut or a bodyboard.

My heart goes out to the family of this hero dad. As Other posters have mentioned, even the best swimmers can be caught up and drown in rips. Occasionally even Aussie lifesavers - generally recognised as the strongest surf swimmers in the world - drown participating in contests.

I am abody boarder. My board is my life saver during pre hurricane waves of up to four meters. I do not like higher than that, but my favorite is 2 meters.

There are even rips at Kugenuma Kaigan where I surf. Most of my surfer friends are great swimmers and easily handle rips. I am amazed though for an island country that most cannot swim.

Rip dad

the "best" swimmers get in trouble, as the trust themselves too much

The best swimmers can float for 45 minutes without difficulty, which is the time frame in which this guy was found.

Agree, a good swimmer also often does surf, windsurf, scuba, etc. So they can read the surf, etc. I een swimming since age 0,6.

I remember once in greece a friends boat drifted out, I swam out and dragged it back(took an hour).

The rocks between this and the next beach were slippery, my sister slipped and got caught in a current between the rocks we fished her out unharmed. Just need to remain cool, observe and plan. I got also scuba licences up to before Instructor.

But nothing beats good swimming education and how to survive if you are being dragged in one and of course the fitness to swim back to shore.

I have even been caught in a current from a quake that tumbled me underwater 7-8 times and you don't know where up and down is.

Agreed some currents can be bad but a lifeguard should know all the local ones as well as all the local danger spots.

I swam and dived pretty much all over the world and still say Japanese swimming classes only prepare you for Tokyo Summer-land, etc.

I was part of a trip that took my son and other kids on a summer trip, the river swim part was a joke. The mothers released them upstream and we had to catch them before the got to even waist-deep for me. One drifted further and every one panicked, 2m past me got him fast.

usually the "best" swimmers get in trouble, as the trust themselves too much. I know from personal experience that currents on the ocean can be so strong that even the best swimmers can't escape them. The not so good ones will use donut or a bodyboard.

Rubbish. The "best" swimmers know their limits and know the water and aren't dumb enough to think they are strong enough to swim through rips and tows. They also know to go with them and float so they don't tire themselves. The dingdongs that drown are the ones that think they are good swimmers and know very little about water safety.

Wow not cool, especially when the wife was on the beach, where are the life guards? Plenty of beaches here have no guards and even when there are some, most here ignore them.

Just sad! So sad for this poor father, now dead and now his family will have no father. Reminds me of the time I went to play at my neighbors house and asked for my friend, his dad said he was not home, then I asked for his 5 brothers by order of age, his dad with a long, long sad face told me very quietly that they were all not home. I thought this was very strange, but I was only 3 or 4 years old, so just in case I asked my mom why all my friends were not home, she said THEY HAD ALL DROWNED IN A RIVER?? CANAL?? the day before, only the father survived but in 1 day, but in 1 day single day all 6 sons drowned, which at that moment, I could not comprehend. RIP Japanese father down in Yamaguchi

I don't know the beach but my experience with Japanese SCUBA divers is that many can swim well in a pool where they learn the basic skill of swimming but waterman ship skills in the open water are often quite terrible and they are often pretty inexperienced in these hostile and changeable environments. Even Open water SCUBA divers have never experienced any seas larger than a ripple so have no real comprehension of the possible danger because they learn and train in ideal conditions as you see on all the learn to dive pamphlets. I have noticed that Japanese people often don't see the danger of swimming in rivers either, which often look quite inviting. Its very unfortunate to see these kinds of accidents so often where probably a little real education would have helped.

Best advice when caught in a rip current is to swim PARALLEL to the shore until you are out of the current, THEN head into shore. Trying to swim directly against the current will just tire you out without getting ANY closer to shore. Even Michael Phelps would not make any headway against most rip currents.

@Fadamore, Hear! Hear! Very wise comments! May I add, NEVER ever turn your back on the waves in the sea, they can look nice and calm, all you need is one big strong one to knock you around, always RESPECT the sea, the water!

Fadamor imho, the best advice is to swim perpendicularly to the current towards the shore, when you are closest to it. If the current brings you away, swim parallel to the shore, with the current, but this is only because of the current's orientation.

If you feel the temperature on the surface is decreasing suddenly, you are in trouble, there might be vertical currents trying to pull you down. Sometimes even the best swimmer can't escape those.

Ebisen: I read somewhere that being dragged under is highly unlikely and a bit of a myth.

I would also add to Fadamor's advice: at first, relax your body and let the rip tide carry you. THEN once you're no longer moving, THEN start swimming parallel to the shore and then toward shore.

Ebisen: I read somewhere that being dragged under is highly unlikely and a bit of a myth.

It is.

If you feel the temperature on the surface is decreasing suddenly, you are in trouble, there might be vertical currents trying to pull you down. Sometimes even the best swimmer can't escape those.

Better post that one on Myth Busters

Father is a hero in my book.

Jeff, tmarie - I very often (weekly basis) swim in Chiba's Kujuukuri-Hama area, and encounter currents almost every time. I was never dragged under myself, but there were other cases of swimmers dying this way.

When one suddenly enters very cold water (within 1-2 meters the temperature drops significantly), it could be that it is rising from the depth, and somewhere there might be it's reciprocal, trying to pull you under (horizontal vortex, with the flow looking like a spiral on the surface of a pipe).