Since the beginning of July, the lifeguards and lifeguards (MNS) stationed at Corsaires beach in Anglet have been confronted with a phenomenon feared by all those who ensure the safety of swimmers on the Atlantic coast: the baïnes. These depressions which form a few meters from the shore trap dozens of swimmers every summer.
A mother and her two daughters trapped
Sunday, several vacationers had the exhausting experience. This Sunday, August 9, at the start of the afternoon, Ana Pouvreau, 52, has been paddling for two hours in the ocean with her two daughters aged 12 and 13. Suddenly, this Cannoise, a good swimmer, feels “pushed by a wave” outside the swimming area.
“Suddenly, I no longer had foot, I felt myself drifting”, she says. His reflex: immediately straighten his trajectory. It takes for reference the flags planted in the sand which delimit the authorized bathing area and starts swimming, swimming …
“But I was treading water, I was exhausting myself, I was starting to lose my breath,” she testifies. Ana Pouvreau struggles, she is carried away by masses of water which are expelled from the baïne, these large swimming pools sculpted by the transit of sand on the beach, towards the sea.
The swimmer tries to keep her cool. “I did the board and waved my hand to alert the MNS”, continues this vacationer who lived fifteen years in Biarritz.
“There were dozens and dozens of people huddled together in the water, I felt like they couldn’t see me”
The rescuers clearly spotted the bather in difficulty. Posted at the top of their watchtower, Quentin Lemoux and Thomas Mintovt alert their colleague, Kepa Blain, who is watching by the sea. He immediately jumps into the water. “In the meantime, my companion, who is a former soldier, also tried to help me”, continues Ana Pouvreau. But, in turn, the latter finds himself swept away by the current with his 12-year-old daughter.
Helped by his fins, Kepa Blain will finally manage to bring mother and daughter back to the swimming area after having fitted them with life jackets. “I stayed lying on the sand for a long time before I could regain my senses. I was extremely shocked,” recounts the swimmer. A few hours later, the MNS came to the aid of a third bather caught in another baïne. “It was about a child who did not manage to return”, specifies Quentin Lemoux, chief of the first aid station of the beach of Corsairs.
The latter describes “two big baïnes” which seriously complicate the daily life of these English rescuers since the beginning of the holidays. “We discovered them at the beginning of July, while taking our post. They were sculpted by the strong tides of this winter which hollow out the beach”, explains the MNS. The depression which then forms between the sandbank and the coast is called “baïne”. “When the tide is high, there is no risk because the baïne is full”, informs Quentin Lemoux. “The danger sets in when the tide rises or falls, creating a strong side current. Without fins, impossible to fight.”
The lifeguards of Anglet may multiply the messages of prevention, they help bathers caught in these baïnes several times a day. “It is all the more dangerous since, for a week, there have been a lot of people on the beach and an accident can quickly happen. A few seconds of inattention are enough to move away from the swimming area”, warns the lifeguard.
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