Reporter details stingray encounter; Seal Beach reports hundreds of hits
September 4th, 2008, 3:41 pm · 12 Comments · posted by Laylan Connelly, staff writer
It’s one of the questions people have to answer before learning to surf - can I face the creatures that lurk below the ocean’s surface?
One of those that makes people cringe at the thought of them is the sting ray, which tend to come close to shore when the water warms (like as of recent). Seal Beach - known casually as “Ray Bay” - is on track to have 700 reports come into the lifeguard station this year. On a heavy day, up to 20 victims can come limping into the lifeguard headquarters for treatment.
O.C. Register business writer Jeff Collins recently was stung by a stingray at Bolsa Chica State Beach. Here’s his account of what happened:
I had just finished riding my first wave early Sunday morning when I put my right foot down and stepped on something hard, round and slippery. “A bottle,” I thought. Suddenly, the “bottle” rolled and I felt a sharp stab on the top of my foot.
“Was that a stingray?” I asked myself. I paddled in, yanked off my rubber bootie and spotted an even, horseshoe-shaped cut on the top of my foot, about 2 millimeters long.
I had to soak my foot in warm water, a female surfer nearby advised. Don’t put anything cold on it.
“Go to the lifeguards,” she said. “To the headquarters building.”
Soaking wet, wearing a wetsuit and burdened with my 9 1/2-foot Bettis board, I hobbled about 200 yards over to the imposing, brick lifeguard HQ, the top of my foot throbbing.
There was nobody around. “Hello!” I called. No answer. I wandered inside and found a first-aid station with four bays. Each had a set of faucets and a long, foot-shaped bucket. Two of the buckets were filled with water. I reached down and touched one. It was warm!
The first-aid station obviously was equipped to treat multiple stings at once, and they’d evidently been waiting for me. I sat down, plunged my foot into the first bucket. By now, the wound had swollen into an inch-high, volcano-shaped lump on the top of my foot. Pain radiated to my ankle and down to my toes.
Bored, in agony and wondering where the lifeguards were, I looked over and saw a rack filled with magazines and plastic-covered printouts on, of all things, stingrays.
I learned first that stingrays are part of the shark family. That figures, I thought. Then I learned that my foot needed to soak for 30 to 90 minutes in water as hot as I could stand it.
I poured out the lukewarm water, turned on the hot tap and refilled my bucket. Gingerly, I lowered my foot into near-boiling water. Miraculously, the pain stopped. The swelling subsided. The hot water, according to the printout, was neutralizing the ray’s venom.
I passed the time reading Surfing magazine, and after a half hour, some lifeguards turned up. They advised me to take my foot out from time to time, let it cool, and when the pain subsides to a 1 or a 2 on a scale of 10, I’ll be done. At that point, I had ZERO pain, so I pulled my foot out of the water and let it cool. Swiftly, the aching returned, and my foot ended up back in the water. On a scale of 10, it was a 12. OK, at least a 7, if not an 8. I had to soak that dog for 30 minutes more before it quit barking. Finally, I got up, grabbed my board and tenderfooted it back to my van.
Along the way, every surfer I encountered told me that they too had been stung before. One claimed that there are more stingrays in Bolsa Chica than Seal Beach, O.C.’s supposed hotbed of ray stings.
“Always shuffle your feet,” he said, demonstrating how to push one foot in front of the other. “Never lift your feet off the ground.”
Another surfer — a marine biologist to boot — explained that a stingray’s stinger is like a knife. Once, a stingray nearly severed his small toe, he said. Another time, it slashed his instep to the bone.
In hindsight, my wound was minor. The ray’s stinger hit my first metatarsal bone and stopped before it got too deep. There was no sign of any barbs embedded in my skin. I never got an infection.
Four days after the attack, the swelling in my foot is nearly gone, although my extremity is tinted with bruises and bronze discoloration. The surfer-marine biologist had told me to come back the next day and try surfing again. I should get “tubed,” he said. “It’s karma.”
By Monday, I did indeed feel well enough to go back out. How was it? Best day of the summer!
Oh, and my feet never touched the bottom of the shore. Not once.
Check out this photo of Collins’ foot, days after the sting:
Wow, great account! It has never happened to me yet, after 24 years in So Cal and three in Puerto Rico, knock on wood. What about that episode of Friends where Ross gets stung? Is that treatment true?
Haaa, I’ve asked - that treatment doesn’t help (and I’m not volunteering to find out!!!) That might be for jellyfish …
Hum, you might want to bring your beach shoes!
This account is exactly the same as what happened to me at Newport Beach and the remedy really does work.
The lifeguards at Newport provide the same service and I still thank them for the help to this day. To Laylan, who says it was a jellyfish, I disagree. I saw the stingray that I stepped on as it darted away. I accidentally stepped on it and it manouvered around and jabbed me on the top of my foot. I now shuffle my feet along on the bottom to scare them away.
Been surfing for years and was a lifeguard through my teens and into my early twenties and never got hit - although I’ve seen dozens. The foot shuffling definitely works. They see you coming and head in the other direction. They don’t lay-in-wait for waders, they’re just there looking for food - being scavengers and all.
Oh, Marla, the other remedy is for jellyfish stings… and I have no idea if it actually works!
Be well… and happy surfing!
Thanks for the toughts Matt - just to clear up, the reference to jellyfish was the urban-myth remedy that was shown on an episode of Friends.. .whether peeing on the injury works or not! Like I said, I’m not testing it out…
That reminds me of when I was taking surfing lessons 4 years ago. My instructor was showing me how to shuffle through the water to scare off the sting rays, when he started jumping around hollering every 4 letter word in the book, saying of the the (something I can’t repeat here) got him! I thought he was joking til he high tailed it up to the beach to get treatment, then I realized he had really been stung by a sting ray! That was my first lesson, almost became my last. The poor instructor apologized everytime he saw me after that for his language. Must have hurt.
The treatment of soaking the wound in hot water is the treatment for Stingray encounters. I’ve been unlucky enough to gone through one myself. Mine later became infected, and landed me in the hospital, where the antibiotics they gave me via an IV caused a case of ulcerative colitis. What was worse, is I had to stay out of the water for a month. That was one summer I’ll never forget.
I am glad that people are talking about this. Once I was stung by a stingray at Newport Beach while surfing. I knew what to do and so I didn’t freak out that much. I know someone who went to the emergency room for a stingray sting. He ended up with a horrible infection and had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks because it took forever and they didn’t treat him properly. If people know what to do then they can avoid the problem he had and can minimize the effects of the sting.
I got stung 2 years ago on September 15th at Bolsa. It hurt so bad, instantly bleeding all over the second I got my foot out the water. Hot water worked, agonizing 30 min drive home to do it, the whole time it felt like the corner of a filing cabinet got dropped on the top of my foot and my foot was still under it.
Stupid me decided to surf the next day, it was fun. Week later on a business trip my foot got very hot, itchy, and swelled all up and my vein turned red going up halfway on my shin. Went to one of those quick care places in st. louis and they gave me a few shots???? (can’t remember) one was tetanus ( spelling??) and some oral antibiotics.
Both the Doctors / Nurses and myself thought it was kind of funny that I was in St. Louis and needed to be treated for a Stingray wound…
It scared me when the doctor drew a line on my leg and said, if the redness of the vein goes hirer than it is right now (drew a line), don’t come back and go directly to the hospital…. But after a few days the swelling went down… phew :p
I never touch the bottom if i can help it, and always shuffle now :p
The other remedy works for urchins. Learned that from my Dad who, in need of treatment on Maui, used that method in ‘73. Worked for him, but I’ve never had to try it myself.
I’ve never stepped on a ray, not even in ray bay, but on clear water Summer days they used to glide along on the sandy bottom in the moving shadows our boards as we rode - they were trying to stay cool, I guesss. The water never seems that clear anymore, or at least I can’t recall it that clear recently. The problem is not seeing them, right?
Today, Oct. 1, 2008 I was envenomated by a sting ray at Sunset Beach Ca. I was going to go body surfing with my husband. We were entering the ocean at a very low tide. The water was just above my knees when I felt a terible stinging and burning pain on the top of my foot. I felt that something was stuck under my swimming shoes. I screamed and was trying to rip my shoe off, but couldn’t get it off. Finally my husband came over to me as I finally got my shoe off and fell into the surf. I ran out of the water and saw a tiny dot of blood on the top of my foot. The burning pain was really great, much more than the puncture wound indicated. We drove around Sunset Beach trying to find a life guard statio or fire station, but no one was at either location. I knew I needed to get my foot in hot water to stop the pain. We drove to Seal Beach, where the life guards were very helpful and had buckets for hot water ready for those stung. I put my foot in the hot water and the pain stopped right away. I kept my foot in hot water for about 1/2 hour, until the pain stayed gone when I pulled my foot out of the hot water. Now the top of my foot in bruised and the stinger wound is red. I hope it recovers without infection. I put antibiotic ointment on the wound. I think my swimming shoes kept the barb from going in deeper. What amazed me was the kind of intense pain such a small puncture caused. I am afraid to go in again, but when I do, I will try to shuffle at all times.