# 80 people form a human chain to save a family in Florida **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 12, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088 "2017-07-12T14:37:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/1 "2017-07-12T14:37:45Z")
This is your feel-good news for today! A whole family ended up caught in a riptide in a Florida beach. Other beachgoers formed a human chain and managed to save everybody. 80 or so people took part in it. Honestly, these news are really great, and they have given me a major case of the warm fuzzies. Link to the whole story follows: > **[Remembering when a human chain of 80 people rescued a drowning family trapped...](https://bigthink.com/hard-science/inspiring-human-chain-of-80-people-rescues-drowning-family-trapped-by-rip-current/)** > > It illustrates the dangers of rip currents. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/2 "2017-07-12T15:22:22Z")
I read an article on this today and the whole thing sounds harrowing and exhausting! I’m amazed nobody died. Definitely a feel-good story. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/3 "2017-07-12T15:30:10Z")
Cool story! … but, does Florida not have lifeguards? It took 80 people an hour to complete the rescue, while law enforcement officers stood by waiting for a rescue boat. No mention of lifeguards, or what happened to that boat. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/4 "2017-07-12T18:00:54Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I’m amazed nobody died. Me too. The people on the seaward end of that chain have an awful lot of trust in the people on the landward end. Wouldn’t the cumulative drag of the current on those people result in a whole lot of force on the floating people near the landward end? This seemed like it had a good chance of getting 40+ people caught in a rip current. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/5 "2017-07-12T18:39:51Z")
Cool story, and a bunch of people working together for a noble cause, but I do have to ask, didn’t anyone have any rope? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/6 "2017-07-12T18:52:59Z")
Awesome. People working together can do almost anything. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/7 "2017-07-12T19:28:14Z")
As Machine Elf has said, the physics of this as a “chain” stopping people being dragged away doesn’t make any sense. Every pair of clasped hands would have to withstand the force on the _entire_ seaward length of the chain. I’m sure that this was a noble effort with stronger people helping weaker people, but the idea that this was a human chain that worked like a long safety line to pull people in is a bit silly. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/8 "2017-07-12T19:32:01Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > As Machine Elf has said, the physics of this as a “chain” stopping people being dragged away doesn’t make any sense. Every pair of clasped hands would have to withstand the force on the _entire_ seaward length of the chain. > > I’m sure that this was a noble effort with stronger people helping weaker people, but the idea that this was a human chain that worked like a long safety line to pull people in is a bit silly. In the picture, most of the people for a good length of the chain were standing, so each one of them was also resisting the pull of the current to some extent. But yeah, noble, but not all that smart. A rope, or a bunch of flotation devices would have been better. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/9 "2017-07-12T19:33:01Z")
Human chains have been used in many rescues. I can’t recall many in water. I seem to recall a few during floods. The human chain reached someone trapped in a car. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/10 "2017-07-12T20:01:39Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Human chains have been used in many rescues… Sure - a few people long. But in a linear chain, the _entire_ force passes through every link of the chain. So if several dozen people with their feet planted are trying to help dozens of people at the seaward end who are being dragged away, it will not work to pass the cumulative force through a line of people in between, the line will just break. Adding more people at the landward end doesn’t help, because a line of people cannot apply that cumulative force through their interlinked arms. If all the people with their feet planted have their own grip on a strong rope, like in a tug-of-war, then their cumulative effort _can_ help a lot of people on the other end of the rope. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/11 "2017-07-12T20:18:53Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Cool story! … but, does Florida not have lifeguards? It took 80 people an hour to complete the rescue, while law enforcement officers stood by waiting for a rescue boat. No mention of lifeguards, or what happened to that boat. Most beaches do not have lifeguards and you swim at your own risk. I’m really glad it all turned out okay. How many people were stuck out there at one point trying to help the boys? 7? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/12 "2017-07-13T00:36:28Z")
Just wait till the lawsuits get filed. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80-people-form-a-human-chain-to-save-a-family-in-florida/791088/13 "2017-07-13T15:04:26Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Just wait till the lawsuits get filed. And what lawsuit would that be? Because of the rip tide? Every beach I’ve been to down here has plenty of signs stating there’s no life guard and you swim at your own risk