Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-11-22
UNDER BREAKERS.
A PACIFIC COAST EXPERT TELLS HOW
HE GOES THROUGH THEM.
BE Is q Doctor and an Athlete and Is
Called "The King of the Breakers
Copies From the Wild Duck-Easier to
Go Out Than to Get Back to Shore.

Called "The King of the Breakers
Copies From the Wild Duck-Easier to
Go Out Than to Get Back to Shore.
San Francisco has king of the break
ers, a man who views the giant shore
waves of the mighty sea as things to play
with, and who proposes to revolutionize
the life saving service by substituting
Drawn and skill for life lines and compli-
Gated paraphernalia. What breaker
really is not many people know. Major
Blakeney, who has been for years with
the government life saving station, is one
of those who ought to know.
"A breaker is not exactly wall OF wa
ter" he said 1T is rather great roll OF
the sea. 1t starts miles and miles away
as a wave, gathering force and gaining
sped as it rolls, the great volume of wa
ter, tons and tons of it, turning over and
over upon itself. Finally as the sea bot
tom rises to form the sandy beach the
suaca for the giant rolling mass Of water
Incomes contracted, aud it breaks-breaks
not from the top of ne roll, but from the
bottalp. breaks with force that makes
tho flish of cannon shot seem triiting.
The top of that breaker, containing vol
ulnes Of water big as houses, is thrown
forward at terrific speed, forming what Is
known on the beach as 'comber' a
boat caught at the time the breaker Is
formed is carried forward at a rate Of easi-
ly 80 miles an hour. A mass OF water Ike
that is solid, is inelastic. A man caught
sUiarely under such comber would be
killed when it struck him-killed as he
would be if he stood under trip hammer
rs it fell.
at is not the breaker at the beach that
is dangerous-it is the breaker away out
that is the power. BY the time 1t reaches
shore it IL merely foam. man drowned
in breakers like that never comes ashore.
His body is never found. He sinks and
stays The water in its rolling picks up
the sand from the bottom until the roller
is heavily charged with sand. A man who
gets into that water gets sand in his lungs,
cars and nostrils, in all his pockets, in his
shoes, under his clothes, in every possible
crevicc, until he is ballasted SO that he
sinks forever
breakers are not made for men to
breast, whether they be swimmers or
not"
Yet the king of the breakers thinks his
subjects arc easy to rule when understood.
Personally the king of the breakers is
n commonplace looking man Of ordinary
build and wearing ordinary whiskers. He
is a doctor, u member of the turner socie-
ties and tho schuct2en sections good
German citizen who loves to drink bee!
and to swim in blue salt water. His name
is DR.. i. RiChl
Il learned how to take the breakers by
watching the duck" said the doctor. 1t
il very, very easy. The heavier and larger
the breakers the better l like it. just so
il is with tho duck. Watch one of the wa
torfowl any time. AS the bird swims in
shore and the breaker comes the duck dis
appears. Look again when the breaker
passes, and you will see the duck calmly
swimming on the smooth water beyond.
That is the way do It's so simple that
it is hardly worth telling about. Any
good swimmer may be taught in few
hours how to go through the breakers.
This is the way | do it, Going ont
from shore, run through the first small
waves as far as / can breast them, or un
til the water takes me off my feet. Then
| swim straight on toward the breakers.
When one comes, dive just before 1t
comes to me / go under it and come VI
in the smooth water beyond. There is al
ways smooth water back of the breaker
and always must be. Any man who has
been much around the sea can understand
that. ] swim on through the smooth wa
ter until the next breaker comes. / take
it the same way. On l go through all OF
them. After man runs out until he Is
off his feet there are never more than eight
or nine breakers ahead, so it is really al
IN n
are ordinary in size and force, and where
any good swimmer can take his ease fol
hours"
And as to coming in again?" we asked
"Ah, there you have me, said the ply
sician That is little more difficult,
much more difficult. A man must keep
his head. Ho must not get what you call
ratified With presence of mind any good
swimmer ought to come in through the
breakers ! come in, not straight ahead
of the breakers, but on a slanting course.
When iLc breaker nears me, l turn quick
ly and dive, just like the duck again. l
Y, under tho breaker in the opposite di-
reetian from my general course for shore,
but on coming up again turn for shore
at once until the next breaker comes.
That take the same way, and so on I'M
vi L can S6l WI lttu luii ioi ShoAS'
Because of this constant turning it Is not
easy to take II line from ship to the land,
but IL is easy enough to carry one from
shore to ship which is all that is needed
in the life saving service"
To carry n line out through the break
ers any reasonable distance the doctor
says all that is necessary is a small line
lighted with corSs or oiled, so arranged
that men on the shore may play it out rs
the swimmer proceeds, taking care that
there shall not be slack enough to encum-
Der him. With such line around his
body over one shoulder DIR. Riehl dives
under the breakers. He says he thinks
practice will enable good long distance
swimmer to carry such line out half q
mile from shore in storm. Once the
small line reaches tho ship or the capsized
boat the problem of life saving is solved,
for it is easy enough to haul out stronger
line and then use any of the numerous
rescue methods. In discussing the matter
yesterday DR.. Refill said:
1.-The life saving crews have orders not
to send out their boats when the breakers
are too high l am told that not long ago
an Italian was upset in his skitf off the
gate and clung to the keel for hours, be-
ing carried past the life saving station,
where the men stood doing nothing be-
rause the breakers We're too high. Finally
the current took the boat to the Clif
u,,eo rocks and Mr. Wilkins and n boy