Perilous nearshore freaque waves at beach

According to Indigo Guide, the resort of Salou is "located in the Spanish region of Catalonia on the Costa Dorada. This aptly named Costa (literally "the Gold Coast") extends from the north of Barcelona to south of Tarragona with seemingly endless stretches of clean, soft sandy beaches and crystal clear water. Salou is the undisputed capital of this coastline which is one of the Mediterranean's most popular playgrounds."

Here's a panoramic picture of Salou beach I found from InfoHub:

There is a news item in the Cambridge News this morning reporting an instance happened there recently illustrate the peril of beach going even in popular resort beach like Salou:

A FATHER has spoken of his relief that his son survived a freak drowning accident in Spain which claimed two lives.

Mark Smith, 25, was on holiday in the resort of Salou with pub chef Mark Porter, 29, who drowned while swimming late at night and being struck by freak waves that threw him on to rocks.

Bob Smith said: "My son said his feet were swept out from underneath him and he had taken in a lot of water, but he managed to get his head above the water. He could feel the current sucking him under, but saw the shoreline and managed to reach it."

Bob, an ambulance driver from Haverhill, said his son, now back home, was "hugely traumatised". "He did think that he was on his way to drowning, but he managed to cheat death."

Lewis Rice, 24, and Ian Farrant, 32, also from Haverhill, survived too. But Michelle Clydesdale, 24, who met the Haverhill group that night, Wednesday, October 21, died in the tragedy.

So it's another perilous nearshore freaque waves happened at the Salou beach. It has never been very clearly specified, but something to that effect happened. We call it the nearshore freaque waves, but no one can give a clear description of what exactly was happened. It was perilous nevertheless. Again some were lucky, some were not. In this case as Mark felt "his feet were swept out from underneath him" and that "the current sucking him under" indicate undoubtedly that other nearshore processes like undertoe and may be rip currents were also involved along with being thrown on to rocks by a freaque wave. Clearly perilous things do exist on any beaches, whether or not it's a popular resort. Yes, beach resorts are for holidays, but one just can not overlook the perils of beach going. Safety! safety! safety! No matter where ever you might be.