While floaties shaped into animals and in sizes large enough to hold multiple people have grown in popularity over the years, experts say they are not the safest choice.
Vaughan advises people against purchasing large flotation devices if they intend to use them in the ocean because they catch the wind.
“The larger wind footprint in the sail, the more wind they catch, the faster they go," he said."And so you can get carried from, you know 25 yards offshore.” In addition, if these large flotation devices are abandoned in the water, many on the shore may think that someone is stranded on one.“We’ll have concerned citizens who don’t know that there isn’t anybody on the float,” said Vaughn. “They will call it in as water rescue and we have to deploy our jet ski resources and our EMS resources to go out and find an empty float that someone just ditched when they realized that they couldn’t control it anymore.
Offshore winds above 5 miles per hour can be enough to create problems if you are on an inflatable in open water. Wind speeds at specific locations can be checked via weather apps. “Pay attention to the hourly wind forecast,” he said. “That’s something we rely on heavily here to figure out what the surf is going to do.”Rip currents can be especially dangerous for people who don’t know how to swim well and for people on inflatable devices, according to Vaughan.
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