Beach water depth
Having gone to the Cedar Point beach for some 35 years, I'd like to hear some view points on the water depth in the swimming area (any CP lifeguards out there?), and I'd like CP to come up with a solution to this. When I was a kid, the lifelines were MUCH farther away from shore than they are now. This assured at least five or six feet of water to swim in. This was changed sometime during the 80s to the distance the lifelines are now. This has severely hurt the beach experience for adults and taller children. Basically, the water last year at the life line went just a little higher than my knee. While I still like the beach, the water was not worth going into because of the lack of depth. A simple solution would be to extend the swimming area into deeper water, like it used to be in the 60s and 70s when the life line was about 3 times further from shore than it is now. Yes, I know the argument that it would be more difficult for the lifeguards to watch everyone, but there are ways around that. Ocean beaches usually have no lifelines and the lifeguards do a fine job of keeping everyone safe. Maybe something simple as buying binoculars for the lifeguards would be sufficient. Or, maybe CP could create a swimming area for adults only that extends out farther from shore. But, as it is now, it’s kind of sad that the two beautiful beachfront hotels have what amounts to little more than kiddie swimming area in front of them. Five to Six feet of water is available just a little further from shore, I wish CP would fix this problem.
Here's an idea. Put out a second rope that outlines the deep area. Than set out a floating chair for the lifeguards, that sits on the middle rope. This would solve both problems easily, and I've seen it done at other beaches.
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Monster Ride Host
2nd Year *** This post was edited by Monster Ride Op on 4/4/2000. ***
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Monster Ride Host
2nd Year *** This post was edited by Monster Ride Op on 4/4/2000. ***
The distance of the life lines has to do with how large of an area the Ellis license allows the guard to oversee. Lifeguards can only oversee an area small enough to keep what we call a "10/20" - 10 seconds to spot a guest in trouble, 20 seconds to respond (that's the main reason why you always see the guard scanning their water). Those of you that are familiar with the bad reputation that places like Edgewater Beach have received because of drownings should know what I mean - Cedar Point doesn't want their beach to have that kind of bad PR, I'm sure. I know it's probably a bummer not to be able to swim in deeper lake water, but it's all for safety's sake.
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Carrie's Cedar Point Employee Page
http://cpcarrie.tripod.com *** This post was edited by RipcordTL99 on 4/5/2000. ***
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Carrie's Cedar Point Employee Page
http://cpcarrie.tripod.com *** This post was edited by RipcordTL99 on 4/5/2000. ***
Well, I know CP wants the beach safe, but the problems with Edgewater had more to do with the fact that they have very few lifeguards who are not that well trained to begin with. Outside of a small child, which should be under direct supervision of an adult anyway, it would be hard to imagine anyone getting in trouble at the CP beach. I mean, I can sit down in the water at the lifeline and it only comes up to my armpits. Safety is fine, but the beach is pretty much unusable for water activities the way it is now. There has to be a way to extend the swim area into deeper water and still keep it safe. One idea is to have lifeguards patroling outside the lifeline on personal water craft, in addition to the lifeguards on the beach. This would allow them to extend the swimming area out from shore about double what it is now, and still pretty much keep the 10/20 rule. What do you think of that idea Carrie? Do you think it would work? CP should really do some brainstorming on this as the beach is a very important part of the resort experience.
Someone once told me that the beach guards used to have a boat....
I don't know if Ellis even has a protocol dealing with that kind of guarding - to tell you the truth I really don't think so, but I see your point. I do know another reason why the lifelines are where they are - North Coast Parasail is right there and many other boats and water craft (jet skis, etc) travel pretty close to that area (where it's deep enough that is). I know that it's still probably too shallow for boats to trael even 20-30 feet past the lifelines, but I don't know much detail from there. I don't question the how and why, because Cedar Point always has their reason for doing something the way they do, they have every right to.... I just enforce the rules that exist and do what I'm told by management!! :)
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Carrie's Cedar Point Employee Page
http://cpcarrie.tripod.com
I don't know if Ellis even has a protocol dealing with that kind of guarding - to tell you the truth I really don't think so, but I see your point. I do know another reason why the lifelines are where they are - North Coast Parasail is right there and many other boats and water craft (jet skis, etc) travel pretty close to that area (where it's deep enough that is). I know that it's still probably too shallow for boats to trael even 20-30 feet past the lifelines, but I don't know much detail from there. I don't question the how and why, because Cedar Point always has their reason for doing something the way they do, they have every right to.... I just enforce the rules that exist and do what I'm told by management!! :)
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Carrie's Cedar Point Employee Page
http://cpcarrie.tripod.com
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