LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
If you ever have to save someone from a rip current, expert lifeguards say you should pretty much just do exactly what a 13-year-old boy in San Clemente did when he heard his friend's distressed cries yesterday.Luke Messinger told The Orange County Register heard his friend Yannick Hoppen calling for help, as he got pulled into the rip current. Hoppen had lost his bodyboard.
Messinger sprung into action and went paddling after his friend. He offered his own bodyboard and helped Hoppen onto it. He pushed back to shore and waved to a lifeguard who met the boys halfway.
This is how it should be done, folks:
Lifeguards say it was a textbook example of how to be safe at the beach - always swim with a friend, swim near a staffed lifeguard tower, wear fins and, if you have a board, have it leashed to you.