Hey Chicago, if you haven't heard you better know that along the Cook and Lake County Lake Michigan shorelines there is a "Rip Current" Alert.
What it means is that there is a small undertow in Lake Michigan and probably due to Hurricane Irene (just a tad). What happens is a small under current of water along the shallow shore lines (where most think it is generally safe) or on those awesome sandbars or by the piers.
Story Time: My Mom was on a sandbar down in the Gulf Coast of Florida. She made sure all of us learned to swim and we are serious long distant swimmers. She can't swim! She had one of those contraptions that looks like a paddle boat bike and she knew where the sand bar area was. She literally biked out to the sandbar (She was only 4'8" tall) and would stand on it and wave from shore. Problem was there was an undertow current and she saw it and panicked. Mom got on her paddle boat bike but all it did was pull her out to the ocean even further.
The Coast Guard came and rescued her and her paddle boat bike. while it may be humorous it wasn't because she was exhausted beecause she made one deadly mistake. She biked against the current instead of biking along the current. Huge difference.
See, even the best of swimmers, and it happened to me too, but I understood that I had to swimingg along the shoreline and then head in and not directly into/against the undertow. That is what exhausts even the best of swimmers and they drown.
Please, take caution this weekend here in Chicago as the we have a high alert. Maybe just standing along the shoreline is a safer bet then swimming this weekend here in Lake Michigan.
Take care!
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