Beach Question?

I love cedar point's wonderful beach and lake erie the same. But I do have a question for anyone out there, especially the lifeguards. My friends and I everytime we go out on the beach and go swimming in the "designated area", we always try to sneek out so we can actually swim in water that is deeper than up to my waist. I was wondering why they don't allow people to go out and actually have a good time swimming around. I really wish they would do something about this because I absolutely love to swim and wouldn't mind spending most of the day doing so if it was allowed. Maybe there is another area that you can swim around at that I am not seeing. Anyway, if you have any input, love to hear what you have to say.

I'd imagine this is because of the boats continuously running around off the coast. Agreed, though, they could extend the beach water limits by a little more...

Being a lifeguard I agree cause the boats on the water. Also that is Cedar Point property so they don't want anyone to drown where they own(can't say I blame them cause people sue for anything now these days)

I you want to swim in deeper water, stay at the Breakers and swim in the deep end of the pool.

I would have to say it is a safety issue. Lake Erie is a very shallow lake and the underwater sandbars are constantly changing sometimes making areas more shallow/ deeper than the pevoius day The limits that are put out as to how far you can swim are more for how quickly a life guard can get to a person in trouble.

It is rather difficult to run in shallow water.

yeah I suppose that makes sense. I mind as well just take a boat out and go swimming. Thanks for the responses

The boats have nothing to do with it. Back in the 60's, 70's and even parts of the 80's you could go out much further. The beach was much more fun back then, as you had much deeper water and could actually catch waves for body surfing, raft surfing etc.

Although I'm not sure, I think things changed when CP hired Ellis to be the water safety consultant. Apparently Ellis recommends that swimmers stay within a certain distance to the lifeguards, so they brought the life lines in much closer to shore.

They really need to find a better way. It's stupid to have a beautiful beach that you can't really swim at.

Being a Cedar Point lifeguard, Pete is right on target with Ellis recommending the size of the beach area.

It is not so much how close the lifelines are to the lifeguards, but the response time the guards have to get a victim. As you can see, the beach is divided into several zones. Each guard has to see the entire zone, including the bottom from his or her post.

There is also the 10/20 rule which means that the guards have 10 seconds to visually scan their entire zone, and 20 seconds from spotting a distressed swimmer till we are at the victims side. As for the beach front is concerned if someone confronts you with information of a lost swimmer in the water, the guards have 3 mins to find them.

click here for more information about the ellis program http://www.jellis.com/aboutus/accomplishments.html

All this information is available on ellis' site, so I'm not violating any CP policies.