> After the rescue, the fishing crew issued an emergency maritime call, prompting Newport Beach lifeguards to respond and provide assistance. Battalion chief Adam Yacenda said the man was found approximately 15 to 20 miles offshore, according to CBS, or “pretty much in the middle of the ocean”.
Only landlubbers and lifeguards could regard 15 to 20 miles offshore as the middle of the ocean.
>Only landlubbers and lifeguards could regard 15 to 20 miles offshore as the middle of the ocean.
I sail boats, and I grew up literally next to Newport Beach. I've lived full time on a sailboat. I'm not a landlubber.
No one refers to "the middle of the ocean" as the literal centroid point of a mass of water.
When someone falls off of a bay slip into the water they say "I fell into the ocean" , and that's a hell of a lot less extreme than swimming for ~9 hours and ending up so far from coast that you could by-chance run into Catalina Island , which is part of the Channel islands located in (and surrounded by..) the Pacific Ocean , away from the coast of California.
Here's a rule of thumb! Between coasts and in something demarcated as an ocean? You're in the middle of the ocean! Now, as with anything, there are varying degrees; but lest you bring up the literal language here let me remind you : no one has been to the middle of an ocean, and the water will still sink your boat and drown you even 15 feet out.
Admitting that I was taking a jab, my background (on the topic) is history and oceanography. 15 to 20 miles is (generally) well in the sub-littoral zone. Off Newport Beach - it's no flat & shallow continental shelf, but neither is it 4,000m deep ocean. In decent conditions, the shore would be obvious from atop a mast. Tall buildings might be visible to a swimmer.
"Middle of the ocean" isn't a geometric center point - but you can't make that boast if an ancient Greek fisherman would have had no problem (winds & currents willing) discerning and getting to the shore. (Note that the Mediterranean is a mere sea:)
Respecting the water, and its dangers, is a different kettle of fish. Where I live, we routinely see news about people dying in only-a-Lake Michigan. Usually within a few hundred yards of the shore, because they failed to respect the waves and currents. Every year or few, somebody drowns in the little river through town (you could throw a rock across in most spots, or wade across in quite a few). Kids (generally drunk) occasionally drown in the cute little ponds that developers dig for their new McMansion neighborhoods. Public swimming pools have lifeguards for good reason. Toddlers can drown in a 5 gallon bucket.
> After the rescue, the fishing crew issued an emergency maritime call, prompting Newport Beach lifeguards to respond and provide assistance. Battalion chief Adam Yacenda said the man was found approximately 15 to 20 miles offshore, according to CBS, or “pretty much in the middle of the ocean”.
Only landlubbers and lifeguards could regard 15 to 20 miles offshore as the middle of the ocean.
>Only landlubbers and lifeguards could regard 15 to 20 miles offshore as the middle of the ocean.
I sail boats, and I grew up literally next to Newport Beach. I've lived full time on a sailboat. I'm not a landlubber.
No one refers to "the middle of the ocean" as the literal centroid point of a mass of water.
When someone falls off of a bay slip into the water they say "I fell into the ocean" , and that's a hell of a lot less extreme than swimming for ~9 hours and ending up so far from coast that you could by-chance run into Catalina Island , which is part of the Channel islands located in (and surrounded by..) the Pacific Ocean , away from the coast of California.
Here's a rule of thumb! Between coasts and in something demarcated as an ocean? You're in the middle of the ocean! Now, as with anything, there are varying degrees; but lest you bring up the literal language here let me remind you : no one has been to the middle of an ocean, and the water will still sink your boat and drown you even 15 feet out.
Admitting that I was taking a jab, my background (on the topic) is history and oceanography. 15 to 20 miles is (generally) well in the sub-littoral zone. Off Newport Beach - it's no flat & shallow continental shelf, but neither is it 4,000m deep ocean. In decent conditions, the shore would be obvious from atop a mast. Tall buildings might be visible to a swimmer.
"Middle of the ocean" isn't a geometric center point - but you can't make that boast if an ancient Greek fisherman would have had no problem (winds & currents willing) discerning and getting to the shore. (Note that the Mediterranean is a mere sea:)
Respecting the water, and its dangers, is a different kettle of fish. Where I live, we routinely see news about people dying in only-a-Lake Michigan. Usually within a few hundred yards of the shore, because they failed to respect the waves and currents. Every year or few, somebody drowns in the little river through town (you could throw a rock across in most spots, or wade across in quite a few). Kids (generally drunk) occasionally drown in the cute little ponds that developers dig for their new McMansion neighborhoods. Public swimming pools have lifeguards for good reason. Toddlers can drown in a 5 gallon bucket.