People who frequent the beaches in the area are called upon to “be extremely vigilant” and to “bathe between the flags of the guarded posts”.
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On Wednesday and Thursday, the beaches of the Aquitaine coast will once again be affected by a “maximum risk of rip currents”indicates the prefecture of Nouvelle-Aquitaine on Tuesday August 13. The prefect of the region and of Gironde, Étienne Guyot, “calls on people who frequent the beaches to be extremely vigilant”.
Baïnes (“small bath” in Landes dialect) look like natural swimming pools, formed between the beach and a sandbank, sometimes difficult to identify. These basins formed by the tide can be tens of meters wide and very deep. Although seemingly harmless, especially because the sea appears smooth and calm on the surface of the water, these baïnes are in fact driven by very strong and dangerous currents that carry the swimmer out to sea.
Last April, in Cap-Ferret, in Gironde, a forty-year-old died while swimming despite a maximum alert. The authorities are therefore calling for caution: “For your safety, swim between the flags of the guarded posts”they advise.
