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It’s a high-risk day on the Aquitaine coast, Saturday August 20, with this alert for baïnes. These sorts of small water holes that form naturally between the beach and the sandbanks, generate very dangerous currents that can carry swimmers away. They are even nicknamed “the traps of the ocean”.
At first glance it is invisible, yet the danger is very present. On the Aquitaine coast, the baïnes and sea currents are particularly strong on Saturday August 20, so swimmers are prohibited from venturing outside the supervised areas. On the beach, lifeguards are busy warning swimmers to avoid drowning. Maximum vigilance, because baïnes are sorts of basins created by sandbanks in the water.
The currents can be particularly powerful there when the water withdraws, and thus trap swimmers. If we find ourselves trapped by a baïne, “you have to let yourself be carried by the open sea and then shift to be able to reach the sandbank and return”, advises Cyril Lambert, CRS beach manager on Grand Crohot beach (Liège-Cap-Ferret). Faced with the risk, the highest alert level was triggered for the second time this year.
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